Presiding over a review meeting, he directed the department officials to set up flying squads for monitoring of paddy procurement as per the guidelines laid down by the state government.
Rajak asked the officials to root out middlemen from the paddy procurement process and take strict action against such elements if they were found at the procurement centres.
The procured paddy should be immediately packed in the gunny bag made available by the State Food Corporation (STF) and taken to the designated rice mills for processing, the minister said.
The farmers payment in lieu of procurement of paddy should be settled immediately through A/C payee cheques, he said adding that a record register be maintained at all procurement centres for audit and accounting.
It may be mentioned that the state government has set a target of paddy procurement of 30 lakh metric tonnes during the kharif season 2012-13.
