With a view to ensure congenial conditions to more than 8 lakh farmers expected to throng the mandis all across Punjab with their produce in connection with the fast approaching Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-24 beginning October 1, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led State Government has pulled out all stops and made foolproof arrangements.
As many as 1806 mandis have been set up in the entire State and the rice mills have been linked with these mandis in accordance with the computerized GPS system.The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak while chairing a meeting of the Deputy Directors, DFSCs and other senior officers here today at Anaj Bhawan to review the preparations regarding the KMS 2023-24, further said that the farmers and other stakeholders such as Arhtiyas should not be made to encounter any difficulty and hassle free procurement along with smooth lifting and payments on first day itself in the accounts of the farmers must be made sure.
The Minister further divulged that bio-metric authentication of the farmers would be done at every mandi and a Nodal Officer would be appointed for every mandi to keep a hawk’s eye on all the arrangements. No rice mill is to be made purchase center, said Mr. Kataruchak, adding that it would be mandatory for the cartage contractors who carry custom milled rice (CMR) as well as the millers, who must also declare the quantity available with them, to implement the vehicle tracking system. Besides, online gate pass mechanism would also be made use of.
Adding that the Gunny Bags have been arranged in adequate numbers, the Minister said that this time 480 new rice mills have qualified for the allotment stage. Batting for the transparency in the entire procurement process, the Minister warned that malpractices would not be tolerated at any cost.
Disclosing more, the Minister said that the procurement target has been fixed at 182 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) and furthermore, the Cash Credit Limit (CCL) of Rs. 37625.68 Crore has been authorized by the RBI for the paddy procurement season.
Nakas should be set up at all the significant places so as to stop the paddy coming from other states to be sold at mandis of Punjab, added the Minister who also apprised the DFSCs that the best performing DFSCs in the KMS 2023-24 would be awarded on the lines of RMS 2023-24.
On the issue of ration cards, the Minister said that the contact numbers and all the necessary information of the Vigilance Committee members ought to be uploaded online for verification. It is important to note that the Vigilance Committees are constituted at the field level for scrutinizing the forms submitted as part of the survey process, for procuring the ration cards.
Among others present on the occasion included the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Director Ghanshyam Thori, Joint Director Dr. Anjuman Bhaskar and all the DFSCs.