Chhattisgarh to start paddy procurement at support price from November 14

Procurement of paddy at the support price from farmers in Chhattisgarh will start from November 14, an official said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai at Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan in Nava Raipur earlier in the day, a public relations department official said.

The policy of paddy procurement and custom milling at the support price in the Kharif marketing year 2024-25 was approved by the cabinet. It was decided to conduct procurement from November 14 to January 31 next year, the official said.

The state government has set a target of 160 lakh metric tonnes of paddy procurement for the 2024-25 kharif marketing season, he said.

The process of farmers' registration for the procurement is underway through the Integrated Farmers Portal and will continue till October 31. Approval has been given to purchase 4.02 lakh bundles of new jute gunny bags through Jute Commissioner for paddy procurement as some eight lakh bundles of gunny bags will be required, the official said.

The cabinet also decided to withdraw 49 court cases related to political agitations or protests. The decision followed the recommendation of a cabinet sub-committee constituted to review such cases.

The council of ministers also gave its nod to the fixation of a special investment incentive package to steel downstream projects, ethanol units and cement industries of core sector under the state's Industrial Policy 2019-24, the official informed.