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Bhubaneswar: Farmers in Odisha are clueless about the process for kharif paddy procurement which is scheduled to begin from November 1.
Hemakant Badhei, farmer leader, Lakhanpur, said, “Awareness should be created among farmers as they don’t know the rule for selling of paddy to the government.”
Expressing similar views, Narottam Bangola, a farmer of Nuapada district, said, “For a paddy card I had given details to the panchayat office, but I am yet to get the document.”
Notably, the State government has decided to include 134 more blocks under the Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) so that money out of paddy sale will be directly credited to the bank account of farmers. Details of registration for the system are already available on the Revenue department’s ‘Bhulekh’ website.
Earlier, the P-PAS system was introduced in 160 blocks in the State.
Meanwhile, the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Department has sent letters to the district supply officers asking to finalise the list of farmers and expedite the registration process.
Till date, a total 7,80,713 farmers have registered themselves on the Bhulekh website. On the other hand, 39,355 sharecroppers have not got nod from their farmland owners to sell paddy.
Also Read: Paddy Procurement: The Perennial Scam
The administrations of 11 districts have not updated the bank account details of farmers.
Asked about the delay, Madhusudan Padhi, secretary, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare, said “There will be delay initially as secretaries of the societies will be trained about the system. However, arrangements have been made in each district to do the hand holding to expedite the process.”
The State has targeted to procure 30 lakh metric tonne paddy during the kharif paddy procurement process which will start from November 1 and continue till March.
