State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar today held a review meeting with civil supplies and marketing officials on setting up summer grain procurement centers in the state. The meeting was held at BRKR Bhavan and was attended by Civil Supplies Commissioner Aneel Kumar, Marketing Department officials Bhaskar, Arun, Rukmini, and Padmaja.
CS Somesh Kumar said that grain procurement in the state was going on smoothly without any difficulties. So far 4.61 lakh metric tonnes of grain has been procured from 61300 farmers through 3679 purchasing centers.
He revealed that there are currently 7 .80 crore gunny bags available in the state. He said the tender process for the purchase of another eight-crore gunny bags would be completed today. In addition, another 2.5 crore gunny bags will soon be received from the Jute Corporation of India. He explained that 51 check posts have been set up at the borders of 17 districts bordering other states to prevent the illegal shifting of grain from other states to the grain purchasing centers in the state. He said the details of the collected grain should be uploaded immediately so that payments can be made expeditiously. Already that there is no funding problem for grain procurement.
CS Somesh Kumar clarified that the government has specially allocated Rs 5,000 crore. The procured grain will be sent to the mills immediately and to date 4.3 lakh metric tonnes of grain has been sent to the mills. In Warangal, Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Bhopal Palli and Nagar Kurnool districts, paddy harvesting will be delayed and buying centers will be set up in those districts as soon as the paddy harvest begins.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao