The much-publicised decentralised paddy procurement system, Mana Biyyam, launched in seven districts of the state, is likely to be extended to the remaining 16 districts from October.
With the scheme getting good response in the first phase, the government is planning to extend it to other districts. The chief minister formally launched the Mana Biyyam scheme in Hyderabad on January 16 this year.
The State Civil Supplies Corporation was able to procure about 9.58 lakh tonnes of paddy against the target of 11 lakh tonnes in the first phase of the scheme. Though around 11 lakh tonnes of paddy was supposed to be procured by the Civil Supplies Corporation in Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Guntur, Prakasam, Warangal, Nellore and Chittoor districts, there was a shortfall of over a lakh of tonnes in procurement due to fall in production.
The first phase of the scheme was very successful and the Civil Supplies Corporation is happy with its performance and the response it got from farmers, said AP State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (APSCSCL) vice-chairman and managing director D Vara Prasad.
In the first phase, about 2 lakh tonnes of paddy was to be procured in Karimnagar district, about 1.7 lakh in Nalgonda, 2.69 lakh in Guntur, 1.8 lakh in Warangal, 40,000 in Prakasam, 2.3 lakh in Nellore and 20,000 tonnes in Chittoor.
“The greatest advantage of the Mana Biyyam scheme is that white card holders will now be able to get quality rice costing Rs 25 per kg at Rs 1 from fair price shops,” he said and added that the scheme would be extended to the remaining 16 districts of the state from October.
The state requires about 40 lakh tonnes of rice a year for public distribution through fair price shops. The scheme is being implemented at a cost of Rs 9,600 crore annually. Fine quality rice would be supplied to about 2.2 crore white card holders in the state, Vara Prasad said.
“The corporation will further streamline the procurement system in the second phase and try to overcome its shortcomings. As far as storage is concerned, the state has sufficient storage facilities. There are about 439 mandal-level stock points (MLSP) which are well-maintained by the department concerned,’’ he said.
Turning to the Amma Hastam scheme, the Civil Supplies Corporation managing director said the scheme was getting overwhelming response from people and there was huge demand for the packet of nine essential commodities. The demand is so huge that the government is not able to meet it because of the delay in supplies.
Under the scheme, 22.5 million white card holders in the state will be provided nine essential commodities in one packet for Rs 185 every month as against the actual total cost of the items which stand at Rs 292.