BHAWANIPATNA: The district administration has begun lifting of paddy for kharif season in Kalahandi from Thursday. The process was initiated at procurement centres in Ranmal in Jaipatna block and Tarapur in Dharamgarh. Around 40 per cent of harvesting has already been completed and the remaining is expected to be done within the next fortnight.
In the first phase, a target of 40,25,000 quintal of paddy procurement has been allotted to the district. Around 107 agencies have been entrusted with the task of running 207 purchasing centres. Seventy-four primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) and 33 women self-help groups (SHGs) will run 174 and 33 purchasing centres, respectively. Of the 62 custom millers who will be tagged with the centres, agreement with 50 have been completed on the day.
Around 88,108 farmers have registered for the procurement process, of which 87,430 have been validated by district registrar of cooperative societies (DRCS), 559 blocked for having no land and 69 cut off from the list for other reasons including non-submission of correct bank account details. Weeding out fake registrations has been facilitated by OCACs remote sensing app.
Chief civil supplies officer Ashok Kumar Dash said paddy procurement will peak in the first week of December. “Arrangements have been made to ensure farmers are not harassed by middlemen. Strict monitoring will also be done to make the process smooth,” added Dash.