Thursday, 14 December 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Food and Civil Supplies minister Rekha Arya has ordered the officers of the department to achieve the target of purchasing paddy while ensuring that all farmers get their due payments by December 31. She stated this during the review meeting of the department on Wednesday. She said that the union government had given a target of purchasing eight lakh metric tonnes of paddy to the State government by December 31.
Arya said that the department has so far purchased about six lakh metric tonnes and directed the officials to achieve the remaining target by the end of this month. She said that agencies like the Food and Civil Supplies department, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) have been nominated for procurement of paddy in the State. Since NCCF is quite far from achieving the said target of procuring paddy, Arya directed the officials to distribute the remaining work among the agencies performing well for the timely procurement of paddy.
She said that some farmers have complained that the payment process of UPCU, an agency responsible for carrying out payments to farmers, is not allegedly transparent. Considering this, she has sought a report against the said agency from the officials concerned. Arya also took information regarding the payment of farmers and ration dealers and instructed the officials to issue their full payment as soon as possible. She also directed them to make full payments to farmers of mountainous areas selling Ragi.
She also directed them to ensure the installation of biometric machines across all ration shops and centres under the department. The minister also expressed her disappointment over the non-updated website of the department. She said that the updated website will help the people to know more about the government schemes to get maximum benefits and directed them to update it soon.
