Bihar again blames Centre for delay in paddy procurement
Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar government has once again blamed the Centre for delaying permission to the state to procure from farmers paddy carrying moisture content of more than 17 per cent.
State cooperative department minister Alok Kumar Mehta on Friday reiterated that the Bihar government had written to the Centre to allow the state to procure the paddy carrying more than 17 per cent moisture to give relief to the farmers. However, the Centre has not responded till now.
Last week chief minister Nitish Kumar too raise the issue of delay in paddy procurement while addressing a Chetna Rally in Sasaram.
The cooperative department, it must be mentioned, buys paddy from farmers through primary agricultural credit societies (PACS).
Reports said that out of total 8,480 such credit societies in the state, procurement is taking place at 6,280 centres. This year, the estimated paddy production in Bihar is around 1.3 crore metric tonnes.
Last year's figure was 80 lakh metric tonnes.
According to reports the state government had started the paddy procurement drive at the fixed minimum support price (MSP) from November 15. Till now, 22,000 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from 3,192 farmers through credit societies and the state food corporation. The cooperative department has made payment of Rs 12 crore for the paddy, through RTGS.
