Bhubaneswar: The Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo reviewed the Kharif 2025-26 paddy procurement at Lokseva Bhavan here on Wednesday.
The Deputy Chief Minister has directed the officers to cooperate with farmers and to resolve their problems promptly in the paddy procurement process. The meeting has advised the departmental officers to visit the mandis on a regular basis. So far, the procurement through mandis has been started in 11 districts – Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Sundargarh.
Along with this, CCTV cameras have been installed in all the mandis of the State and the entire process is being monitored through a 24-hour control room.
Till date, 4,39,294 metric tonne (MT) of paddy has been procured from 97,972 farmers in the 11 districts. In Bargarh, 36,356 farmers have given 1,63,288 MT of paddy. A total of 9,41,433 farmers have been issued tokens in the State. Paddy collection will also begin from the scheduled date in other districts.
To keep the entire process transparent and to ensure that the farmers get their dues correctly, e-KYC facility is being adopted at the time of registration and money is being transferred directly to the bank account linked to Aadhaar. Live tracking of vehicles moving from mandi to mill is also being done by the department through VTS application.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, Cooperation Minister Pradeep Bal Samanta, Principal Secretary Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Sanjay Kumar Singh were present in the meeting and presented their views.