In a record payment for paddy purchase, the Telangana Government has paid Rs 5,529 crores towards purchase of 36.63 lakh tonnes of paddy, a senior official said today.
"In Telangana state's history, this Yasangi (rabi) season, has recorded highest purchase of paddy from farmers on minimum support price (MSP)," Civil Supplies Commissioner C V Anand said.
"Till now the corporation paid Rs 5,529 crores to 6.99 lakh farmers for purchase of 36.63 lakh tonnes of paddy on record scale through 3,055 purchase centres," he said.
The Commissioner further said that Civil Supplies Corporation had estimated to procure a total of 39 lakh tonnes of paddy.
"All the payments pertaining to the paddy purchase from farmers have been done online. Government allotted the required funds to the Corporation," he said.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao last week directed officials to make remittances to farmers for procuring paddy irrespective of the expenditure involved.
"Steps were taken to remove involvement of middlemen and purchase was done directly from farmers. The same amount has been transferred to their respective accounts online.
"It is first time in Telangana that farmers have been paid online to avoid involvement of middlemen. Online Procurement Management System (OPMS) software is launched for this purpose," Anand explained.
In Kharif, 16.52 lakh tonnes of paddy has been purchased from 3,92,787 farmers through 2,178 purchase centres and Rs 2,478 crores were paid to them.
During last year 2015-16 Rabi season 8.27 lakh tonnes of paddy was purchased from 1,72,450 farmers through 1,282 purchase centres, Anand added.
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