From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : The Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed officials to step up measures for procurement of paddy in the state by agencies including FCI, AFCSCL, NAFED, NACOF, NCCF and ASAMB in a meeting held with officials of FCS&CA, Agriculture and Revenue Department as well as representatives of the procurement agencies at Janata Bhawan today. The State government has set a target to procure 10 lakh MT paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers to give them a major financial relief and making agriculture economically more viable. During the meeting, the Chief Minister took stock of the steps taken by the State government departments and the procurement agencies and challenges faced by them and gave directions to ensure that only genuine farmers get benefit of this initiative.
To streamline and expedite paddy procurement, the Chief Minister asked to increase registration of farmers at the procurement portal. Further, to address all issues faced by farmers during registration, Dr. Sarma directed the officers of the FCS&CA and Agriculture Department to make extensive field visit and handhold the farmers. He also asked the Revenue department to issue necessary guidelines to facilitate prompt issue of land related certificates so that more farmers can register on the portal. Underlining the need for generating more awareness among farmers about the procurement drive, Chief Minister Sarma directed to carry out extensive publicity and sensitize farmers by the Agricultural Development Officers.
Further, reviewing the steps taken by the paddy procurement agencies, the Chief Minister directed the agencies to open more Paddy Procurement Centres and conduct joint procurement drives in association with agriculture and FCS&CA Department. Dr. Sarma also stressed on taking up steps on a war-footing and close coordination among FCS&CA, Agriculture and Revenue Department so that the procurement target can be achieved in a time bound manner. Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Chairman of AFCSCL Rajen Gohain, Principal Secretary of FCS&CA Department Biswaranjan Samal, Principal Secretary of Agriculture Department Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Principal Secretary of Revenue Department Avinash Joshi, Principal Secretary to CM Samir Kumar Sinha and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
