Raipur. The process of purchasing paddy at the support price is continuing at a rapid pace in the state. According to the report released at 10 am on December 5th, more than 22 lakh 39 thousand 433 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased in the paddy procurement campaign that began on November 14th of last month.

So far, 439,511 registered farmers have sold paddy. Markfed has released ₹5,277 crore for payment to farmers through a bank-linked system for paddy purchases. This year, 273,096 farmers have registered for the current Kharif season, covering an area of ​​3151,771 hectares.

Paddy procurement is continuing in all the districts of the state. Till now, Mahasamund district is on the first position by purchasing the highest quantity of paddy, i.e. 15 lakh 19 thousand 650 quintals. Gariaband district is on the second position by purchasing 6 lakh 73 thousand 495 quintals of paddy. Similarly, Bilaspur district has achieved the third position by purchasing 6 lakh 73 thousand 65 quintals of paddy. However, Kanker district remains on the fourth position by purchasing 6 lakh 15 thousand 431 quintals of paddy. The districts which have purchased more than five lakh quintals of paddy include Dhamtari and Mungeli districts, while the districts which have purchased more than four lakh quintals of paddy include Surajpur, Balodabazar-Bhatapara, Bementra, Balod and Kondagaon.

Till now 8 lakh 97 thousand 779 tokens have been issued to the farmers. Whereas 50 thousand 234 tokens have been issued to the farmers for paddy purchase on the coming day 8th December. Farmers are getting a lot of convenience from the Token Tuhar App online system started this year. Farmers are satisfied with all the necessary arrangements being made by the committees. State and district level teams constituted by the state government are strictly monitoring the illegal transportation, storage and sale of paddy in the border areas of the state as well as in the state.

It is noteworthy that as per the instructions of Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, along with the purchase of paddy, the payment of support price to the farmers has also been started. The Chhattisgarh government has already given a bank guarantee of Rs 26,200 crore to Markfed for payment of the price of paddy purchased from the farmers of the state. Adequate arrangements have been made in all the centres to ensure that the farmers do not face any problem in selling the paddy. Officers have been posted in all the centres to monitor the arrangements for paddy procurement. Senior administrative officers of the state level and district level officers are continuously visiting and taking stock of the paddy procurement and the arrangements at the centres.

Strict vigilance is being maintained to ensure that no irregularities occur in the procurement of paddy at the support price in the state. Officers have been deployed at checkpoints to prevent the influx of paddy from outside. Surprise checks are also being conducted on transporters at various locations.