Hyderabad, May 18: State Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar directed officials to ensure smooth procurement of paddy and maize without causing inconvenience to farmers in Karimnagar district.
The Minister conducted a review meeting at the Karimnagar Collectorate on measures required to prevent problems during the ongoing grain procurement season.
MLAs Kavvampalli Satyanarayana and Medipalli Satyam, State Library Chairman Sattu Mallesh, District Collector Chitra Mishra, Additional Collector, Police Commissioner Ghaus Alam, officials from various departments, representatives of rice millers associations and lorry owners associations attended the meeting.
Procurement Process Must Be Completed On War Footing
Addressing officials, Ponnam Prabhakar instructed them to complete the procurement process quickly and ensure that farmers do not face hardships at procurement centres.
He said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had already conducted a video conference with district officials and issued necessary directions to streamline procurement operations across the State.
The Minister stated that the entire district administration was working actively at the field level to speed up procurement in Karimnagar district. He said officials were making all efforts to ensure there were no disruptions at procurement centres.
Ponnam Prabhakar said the district had fixed a target of procuring nearly three lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current season. Around three lakh metric tonnes of grain had already arrived at the 314 procurement centres established across the district.
He said 1.58 lakh metric tonnes of paddy had already been procured and directed officials to complete procurement of the remaining 1.5 lakh metric tonnes on a war footing.
The Minister said payments for nearly 63 percent of the procured grain had already been completed. So far, Rs 237.39 crore had been credited directly into farmers’ bank accounts through banks.
He urged rice millers and lorry owners to cooperate fully with the government and increase the number of lorries required for smooth transportation of grain from procurement centres to rice mills.
Ponnam Prabhakar also instructed officials to ensure there was no shortage of hamalis at procurement centres and rice mills. Farmers should not be forced to wait for days together after bringing their produce to procurement centres, he said.
The Minister pointed out that manpower shortage at some PACS centres was causing difficulties in certain areas. He directed officials to appoint additional staff wherever necessary to ensure procurement operations continue smoothly without delays.
He reiterated that the government’s main objective was to complete paddy and maize procurement without causing any inconvenience to farmers.
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