C'garh Kharif season: Over 11 lakh tonnes of paddy procured

Over 11 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured from farmers so far during the current Kharif season in Chhattisgarh under the support price scheme, officials said here on Friday.

As many as 2048 procurement centres have been set up at 1,286 primary agricultural cooperative societies for the process, which started from December 1 and will go on till February 15, Secretary, Food department, Dr Kamalpreet Singh said.

"A total of 11,56,227 metric tonnes paddy have been procured from 2,91,021 farmers till Thursday at procurement centres across the state in 2019-20 Kharif year," Singh said.

He informed that 1,87,417 farmers have been paid Rs 1385 crore after the paddy procurement.

Meanwhile, state officials have so far seized 1,071 metric tonnes of paddy being transported from neighbouring states for illegal sale in Chhattisgarh, and 111 cases have been registered in this connection, Singh said.

Similarly, 29,560 metric tonnes of paddy stocked illegally has been seized from middlemen in 2273 cases, he said.

The Congress government in the state, which had earlier promised to procure paddy at Rs 2500 per quintal, has been purchasing it at the price notified by the Centre, that is Rs 1,815 per quintal for common grade paddy and Rs 1,835 for grade A paddy.

However, the state government has constituted a cabinet sub-committee to see how paddy can be purchased at Rs 2,500 per quintal.