Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 16, 2015 :

After successful piloting of Paddy Procurement Automation System in 60 blocks last year, the Odisha government has decided to extend it 160 blocks in the coming kharif marketing season.  For Rabi procurement, the P-PAS will be applied in 36 blocks of 12 high procuring districts.

Developed by the Department of International Development (DFID) supported by Odisha Modernising Economy Governance Administration (OMEGA), the (P-PAS) is a web-based application in which all transactions at mandi are done through computer both in online and offline mode.

This system has overcome many procedural problems starting from procurement to delivery of paddy to the millers, officials said.

The system aims at improving transparency, efficiency and promptness in service delivery and preventing distress sale of paddy by farmers. Besides, it makes the sale of paddy hassle-free for farmers and assures them of timely payment of minimum support price (MSP) for fair average quality (FAQ) paddy, food supplies and consumer welfare secretary M S Padhi said.

Meanwhile, 7,82,917 farmers for Khariff and 1,55,493 farmers for Rabi have been registered through online registration system. Around 46% of the total paddy procured has been transacted through this automated system and around 2,28,816 farmers have been benefited out of it. Fresh farmers’ registration for coming khariff season will be done in advance by the banks/PACS at the time of advancing crop loans.

“There has been 21% growth in paddy procurement over last year. Similarly, there has been 65% growth in delivery of costumed mill rice over last year by this time. This year around 14.84 lakh ton of rice has already been delivered to Food Corporation of India [FCI] and Rice Receiving Centres [RRC],” Padhi told media adding that Rabi procurement will take up in coming 2 to 3 days in all the mandis and the number of operating days will be extended to 6 days a week.

Total paddy procurement last year from Odisha was around 40 lakh MT. This was revealed in a meeting of the State Level Procurement Committee held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati on Saturday. Padhi presented the updates and outlined the issues for discussion.

Reviewing the modalities of procurement, Pati advised the department to review the online system of farmers registration put in place last year and wipe out the tribulations detected so as to make the system error free. He also asked the department to link farmers’ registration with Adhara numbers.

Pati also directed the department to undertake an assessment study on satisfaction level of the farmers with P-PAS system and to get inputs from them for further improvement.

Issues relating to collection of rice from millers, strategy and preparedness for Rabi paddy procurement, creation of new rack points in railway, modernization of existing rice mills and establishment of new rice meals in deficient districts were discussed in the meeting.

All Revenue Division Commissioners will review the progress of the recovery of rice from the millers and take follow up actions accordingly. Criminal cases launched against the defaulting millers will be followed up through dedicated consultants and officers.