Bhubaneswar, Sep 26 (IANS) The Odisha government has set a target of procuring 60 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this season, an official said on Thursday.
The state Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday approved the Food and Procurement Policy for the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2019 to regulate all aspects of paddy and rice procurement during the season.
“Around 50 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of paddy will be collected in the KMS starting October 1, 2019, while 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy will be collected in the coming rabi season,” informed Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.
Tripathy said even though the state government has fixed a target of procuring around 41 lakh MT of rice (60 lakh MT in terms of paddy) this year, the Food Supply and Consumer Affairs department has been authorised to revise the target if need arises.
In the KMS 2018-19, the government had procured 65.49 lakh MT of paddy from the farmers in the state. This year, around 10 lakh farmers have been registered with the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation.
The Cabinet also approved a tender for construction of a modern inter-state bus terminal (ISBT) at Baramunda, Bhubaneswar, and a bus depot at Khandagiri on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.
–IANS
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