Chennai: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday hiked procurement price for paddy for the current kharif season and extended the special PDS scheme to sell urad dhall, dhoor dhall and palm oil at subsidised rates for one more year till September, 2016.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the Central government had fixed Rs.1,410 per quintal as procurment price for ordinary variety of paddy and Rs.1,450 for fine variety. Considering the interests of the farmers, the Tamil Nadu government would give Rs.50 and Rs.70 respectively for ordinary and fine varieties of paddy, in addition to the Minimum Support Price announced by the Centre. Thus, in Tamil Nadu, Rs.1,460 and Rs.1,520 per quintal would be given to ordinary and fine varieties of paddy from October 1.
The sale of pulses and palm oil through Special PDS scheme came to an end on Wednesday. Under the scheme, urad dhall and dhoor dhall are being sold at Rs.30 per kg and palm oil at Rs.25 per kg. Extending this scheme for one more year would cost an additional expenditure of Rs.2,000 crore to State Exchequer.