Paddy procurement: Only Rs 50 crore sanctioned despite arrears of Rs 997 crore; no result despite CPI intervention

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Supplyco should be paid Rs 997 crore for procuring paddy from farmers and threshing it, but the finance department has sanctioned only Rs 50 crore. CPI state leadership had raised a complaint that the food department is being neglected despite onam approaching, but it did not bear fruit.

Apart from the support price provided by the Central Government, Supplyco should be paid Rs 647 crore as an incentive amount by the state government and Rs 350 crore as an out-turn ratio to be paid to the mills.

Last month, the central government had increased the support price of paddy by Rs 1.17 per kg to Rs 23 per kg. The farmers should get Rs 29.37 when the state government's share of Rs 6.27 is added.

The paddy collected from farmers is milled through private mills. The central requirement is 68 kg of rice per quintal of paddy. However, based on the account that a lower quantity of rice is received from paddy in the state, the state government and the mill owners had reached an agreement that 64.5 kg of rice would do. The remaining amount should be paid by the government as out turn ratio. These arrears multiplied to reach 350 crores.

Onam market intervention

Despite the food department's demand for Rs 500 crore in the outstanding amount for Onam market entry, the finance department has not relented. In a letter to Finance Minister KN Balagopal, Minister GR Anil had informed that the Rs 100 crore sanctioned earlier would not resolve the crisis. GR Anil held talks with the suppliers supplying the goods to Supplyco, but they were adamant that they would not participate in the tender without receiving the outstanding amount of Rs 650 crore.

The state government released the amount to ensure that the current season's paddy prices are distributed to farmers amid 207 crore arrears in central government allocation for paddy procurement.

- KN Balagopal, Finance Minister