BHUBANESWAR: Minister of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Krushna Chandra Patra met Union minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi in New Delhi and requested him to release the pending food subsidy bill of around `8,000 crore for paddy procurement during the current kharif marketing season (KMS).
Patra also requested the Union minister to consider increasing the paddy procurement target for the state 2025-26 KMS. Under the decentralised procurement system, the state government is buying paddy directly from farmers by paying minimum support price.
The state-run Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) is the designated agency which procures paddy through PACS, LAMPS, Pani Panchayats and women self-help groups.
Handing over a memorandum to Joshi, Patra said the state government has set a target to procure 93 lakh tonne paddy during the current KMS and the financial requirement will be more than `28,000 crore in view of the input assistance of `800 per quintal over and above the minimum support price.
He said OSCSC is borrowing money from open market to meet the expense towards paddy procurement. The release of the pending food subsidy bill of the state will be of great relief to the corporation for seamless paddy procurement and timely payment to the farmers.
Patra informed that the state government is all set to start procuring kharif paddy from December 25 and requested Joshi for immediate release of the state’s dues. He also reminded Joshi about the state’s demand for increasing the rice procurement estimate for the central pool by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to around 7.5 lakh metric tonne within the specified time-frame.
Principal secretary, FS&CW Sanjay Kumar Singh and other senior officials of the department were also present.