Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi reiterated that the target of 185 LMT fixed for Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2024-25 in Punjab will be fully procured and not a single grain of paddy will be left unprepared.

He also announced that an online portal for grievance redressal of rice millers will be launched shortly so that any difficulties faced by the stakeholders can be addressed promptly.

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The Minister was addressing a press conference on the measures taken by the Union Government to ensure seamless paddy and Custom Milled Rice (CMR) procurement in Punjab State.

Despite a late start, the state is on track now to achieve its target of procuring 185 LMT of paddy by November 2024.

All measures are in place to ensure smooth procurement operations in Punjab for KMS 2024-25. As on 26th Oct 2024, out of 54.5 LMT arrival in mandis, 50 LMT of paddy has been procured, the minister told.

During KMS 2023-24, out of 65.8 LMT arrival, 61.5 LMT paddy had been procured by 26th Oct 2023. MSP for Paddy(Common) has seen a substantial rise from Rs 1310 /Qtl in 2013-14 to Rs 2300/Qtl in 2024-25.

A total of 3800 millers have applied for registration out of which 3250 millers have already been allotted the work by the Punjab government. More millers are expected to register and be allotted the work in the next 7 days.

To ensure that adequate storage arrangements are in place for the CMR, several high level meetings have been conducted with the Punjab State Government and follow-up actions are being taken up on priority.

Out of the All-India Movement plan of 34.75 LMT for the month of October, around 40 per cent, i.e, 13.76 LMT is allocated to Punjab state. At present around 15 LMT storage space is vacant in Punjab.

There has also been demand from the millers for reduction of the existing 67 per cent OTR (Out Turn Ratio from paddy to rice) set by FCI, citing that the paddy variety PR – 126 has been giving 4-5 per cent lesser OTR than usual.

The Minister told that a study has been assigned to IIT Kharagpur for reviewing the present OTR and Driage incidentals of Paddy and the work is in progress. For this purpose, tests are being conducted in different rice procuring states including Punjab.