CM hints at lockdown removal
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that there is possibility of the lockdown opening on April 14 in the State.
Rabi procurement may start in the state from April 15. He said that procurement work has to be finished by May 31 as there is less time. Therefore, such a system should be made so that wheat, gram, mustard and lentil crops of farmers can be easily purchased on support price.
Chouhan instructed that maximum procurement centres should be opened in the state. The services of staff of other departments should also be used at these centres as per requirement.
Chouhan said that due to the present Corona crisis, procurement will not be able to start from April 15 at the urban centres of Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain. The Chief Minister was reviewing the preparations for Rabi procurement through video conference on Monday.
Chief Minister has said that this time Rabi procurement work has to be undertaken in the form of a mission due to Corona crisis. Government teams, cooperative societies, labourers, hammals etc. should all work for purchase on support price with total dedication.
Chouhan said that special attention should be taken to ensure that the procurement centers are not crowded. For this it is necessary that farmers are provided information about which day they have to come to the centre to sell the crops through SMS and through other information channels. Farmers should come to the shopping centre on the same day to sell their crops. Chief Minister Chouhan said that this time around 100 lakh MT wheat and 10 lakh MT gram, lentils and mustard are to be purchased on support price.
Chouhan instructed that all arrangements for procurement centers, bardana, hammal, labourers, transport storage etc. should be made properly. He said that there was a lot of transport problem last year. Chouhan said to ensure better transportation arrangements this time. He said that old transporters whose records are bad, should not be engaged this time.
Principal Secretary Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Sheo Shekhar Shukla informed that due to non-availability of jute bags, this time the work will be done in PP bags only.
He said that at present we have PP bags available for purchase of 64 lakh MT. Purchasing capacity in silo centers is 9 lakh tonnes. Purchase orders for PP bags have been issued. PP bags are being arranged for the purchase of 115 lakh metric tonnes of Rabi crops in the state.
Shukla said that there were 3545 procurement centers in the state last year, which has been increased to 3813 this year.
Apart from this, new centres were also being opened. The total number of procurement centers will be up to 4000.
Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains and other related officers were present in the video conference.
