Raipur: The paddy procurement drive under the minimum support price (MSP) declared by the Centre for the Kharif Marketing Year 2021-22 is scheduled to start from December 1 in the state, necessary preparations are being tested and tried.
A mock drill of the paddy procurement software was conducted on Sunday across various committees to ensure accurate functioning. The committees have initiated the process of issuing tokens to the farmers based on which paddy will be purchased from them. The farmers will be issues three tokens which they could be use to sell their paddy. As per the regular practice, farmers will be issued margial benefit of their produce.
Paddy procurement has always been a matter of political mileage. Last week, Chief Minister Baghel wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to ensure a timely supply of new jute gunny bags to the state for paddy purchase, saying their unavailability could create a law and order situation during the procurement drive. It was reported that Baghel said Chhattisgarh requires 5.25 lakh bundles of gunny bags for paddy procurement but has received permission to purchase only 2.14 lakh bundles of new gunny bags, which would hinder its procurement drive. This year, the state has decided to procure around 105 lakh metric tonnes of paddy.