Raipur: Paddy procurement started on Wednesday across 94 procurement centres of the district amid the gunny crisis. On the instructions of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, farmers will now be paid Rs 25 in lieu of old gunny bags. An order in this regard has been issued by the Food Department today. It is worth mentioning here that for the purchase of paddy on support price, the state government has given an exemption to the farmers to bring paddy in their gunny bags. With the purchase of paddy brought by the farmers in their own gunny bags, they were to be paid Rs 18 earlier in lieu of the old gunny bags.
On the first day, 66101 quintals of paddy were purchased from 1629 farmers of the district. On the very first day, 90 per cent of the farmers came to sell paddy with plastic bags and took it back. Seeing that the gunny bags do not come from the farmers, the government increased the rate of gunny bags from 18 to 25 rupees. Collector Bhure and District Cooperative Central Bank President Jawahar Verma visited the procurement centers and inspected the arrangements.