Steps initiated to procure paddy directly from farmers: West Bengal minister

The West Bengal government has initiated measures to procure paddy directly from farmers, the payment for which will be credited to their bank accounts within 72 hours, state minister Jyoti Priya Mallick said.

The Trinmool Congress government has sanctioned Rs 4,646 crore for this "first-of-its-kind initiative in the country", the food and supply minister said at Kalyani in Nadia district Thursday, after inaugurating a sub-divisional building of his department.

"The state will arrange for a registration drive to provide farmers with an identity card for the paddy programme. All farmers will be receiving payments in their bank accounts within 72 hours of procurement," Mallick stated.

The system will "check exploitation" of farmers at the hands of middlemen and procurement agencies, he said.

"Here, at Nadia, the registration drive will begin on October 1 and continue till the end of the month. Around 500 self-help groups (SHGs) will be engaged for the process.

"Once any SHG accumulates paddy and informs the district office of Food and Supply Department, the officials will collect the stock in the next 24 hours. The SHGs will get Rs 31.25 as commission for each quintal," Mallick explained.

A toll-free number will be set up at the district offices to attend the calls of SHGs.

"The Centre had earlier this year fixed Minimum Support Price for paddy at Rs 1750 per quintal. The TMC government, however, will be doling out Rs 20 more for every quintal to encourage the farmers. The state will have to spend Rs 150 crore more the 'encouragement allowance'."

Stating that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) owes Rs 400 crore to the government for rice procurement under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the minister said the matter had led to a tussle between the central departments.

"We provided them 2 lakh MT of rice to FCI for which it was supposed to pay 400 crore. But no payments were made in the past one year. The state had been bearing losses running into lakhs of rupees every day," Mallick said.

Despite the losses, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked the Food and Supply Department to continue providing rice to FCI as it does not want any child to starve in Bengal, he said.