Finish cotton purchase before monsoon starts: Mins

Amravati/Wardha: With only a few weeks remaining for the onset of monsoon, people’s representatives from the region have started pushing Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and State Cotton Marketing Federation to complete cotton procurement process latest by June 15.
Holding discussions with Amravati collector Shailesh Naval, federation president Rajabhau Deshmukh, district deputy registrar Sanjay Jadhav and others to find out solutions to the problems coming in the way of expediting procurement, guardian minister Yashomati Thakur on Wednesday instructed the authorities to complete the process before June 15, blending speed with precaution and safety against coronavirus.
“We have made trained manpower available to cotton federation and this has helped in increasing the number of gins procuring cotton from 18 carts earlier to 25 now,” said Naval.
Amravati DDR Sanjay Jadhav informed that about 6.25 lakh quintal cotton has been purchased to date from 22,204 farmers at eight procurement centres in the district, including the one of CCI at Dhamangaon Railway.
Thakur instructed the authorities to ensure procurement of all carts on the same day, take precautions against fire, ensure godowns for storage of cotton bales, complete procurement as per plan and avoid any kind of inconvenience to farmers.
Meanwhile, minister for animal husbandry, daily development, youth welfare and Wardha guardian minister Sunil Kedar, after visiting 14 ginning mills in the district on Wednesday, directed the concerned authorities to complete the procurement before the monsoon begins.
He also suggested that cotton federation should increase availability of graders so as to complete the process.
Experts pointed out that owing to lack of coordination between Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), marketing federation, ginning owners and officials, the procurement process is going on slowly. Taking note of this, Kedar also directed the concerned authorities to ensure that produce of at least 100 farmers is procured on a daily basis.
Earlier in the day, Kedar discussed the issues with directors of ginning factories, graders, secretary of the marketing federation. MLA Sameer Kunawar, MLA Ranjeet Kamble, former MLA Raju Timande, district collector Vivek Bhimanwar, additional district collector Ashok Latare, district deputy registrar Gautam Walade, tehsildar Mahendra Sonwane and others were present.
Kedar said all departments are citing various issues like CCI having no godown facilities, while marketing federation is not providing graders. He also pointed out that ginning factory owners are raising complaints that cotton bales are not being lifted on time. “This all shows there is a lack of coordination between the departments and due to this farmers are suffering,” said Kedar.
“I have directed collector to make godowns and manpower available as per the CCI requirement,” said the minister.
Procurement process should be continued even on public holidays so that not a single farmer in the district is left with unsold produce, he said.
As more fire incidents take place during peak summer, the minister also advised municipalities to keep fire brigade vehicles and staff ready to tackle any incident, he said.