Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to fix provisional incidental costs at a reasonable level for smooth continuance of procurement operations.
In a letter to the central minister, the CM said the incidental costs are extremely low , based on 2003-04 rates which is unacceptable and the state is not in a position to pay increased incidental expenses.
While we are almost at the fag end of paddy procurement for Kharif 2017-18, we have not been able to pay the incidental costs.
The reason is that the centre has fixed rates at an extremely low level compared to the market rates, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Odisha government has already submitted the accounts up to the year 2015-16. However, finalisation of accounts is a time-consuming process and revision of the incidental rates at a reasonable level should not be contingent to the finalisation of up-to-date accounts, he said.
If payments are not made there is a possibility of disruption in the Rabi paddy procurement, noted the chief minister.
The CM noted that Odisha which was procuring a modest0.60 lakh MT of paddy in 2003-04 has reached a level of 52.00 lakh MT of paddy in the year 2016-17.
The state has put in a lot of efforts to. streamline the paddy procurement operations and to ensure that all the farmers get the Minimum Support Price.
During the current year, the State has already procured 34.00 lakh MT paddy. Simultaneously, the preparations have also started for procurement of Rabi paddy from 1St May, 2018.