Aadhaar Card mandatory for paddy procurement in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today said it has decided to make Aadhaar card mandatory for procurement of paddy in the state.

This apart, the government has also decided to link Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries for availing ration under NFSA and work under MG-NREGA.

"All farmers will be paid online for paddy procurement.

Payments will be directly credited to the bank account of farmers from Odisha State Cooperative Bank," food supplies and consumer welfare secretary P K Mohapatra told reporters.

Mohapatra said the decision in this regard was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi on the Aadhaar Card linkage in the state.

"Not only for paddy procurement payments, Aadhaar cards will be linked with the National Food Security Scheme (NFSS) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGS)," he said.

Mohapatra said so far 68 per cent people have already availed Aadhaar Card and others would be provided with the same before November this year.

He said Aadhaar card linking would help in maintaining transparency at the Public Distribution System (PDS) network and Point of Sale (POS) machines would be installed at all retailer points from October.