Jogi explains procurement hurdles

By Our Staff Correspondent

RAIPUR, NOV. 24. The Chhatisgarh Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, on Friday said that procurement and storage of surplus paddy was a challenge for the State Government. Replying to a special discuss in the Assembly, Mr Jogi said his Government had made adequate arrangements to lift paddy from the mandis but since the quantity was massive - to the tune of 40 lakhs tons - there was always a possibility of some lapses in the system.

Spelling out various steps taken by the administration for lifting paddy from the local mandis, Mr. Jogi said directions had been issued to ensure that no paddy from the neighbouring States entered Chhatisgarh and an entry tax had been imposed for paddy being brought into the State while a two per cent tax on taking paddy out had been removed.

Seeking cooperation from the Opposition in overcoming this challenge by putting pressure on the Central Government for lifting paddy through the Food Corporation of India as was being done in Punjab and Haryana, the Chief Minister said the uniform custom milling price for Chhatisgarh be raised to Rs.40 instead of Rs.13.20. Also, the FCI should remove 2 lakh tons of wheat stored in its godowns here to make space for storage of paddy. Mr. Jogi said he had written a letter to the Prime Minister where these points had been raised and hoped that the Opposition would use its influence on the issue.

Asking the Bharatiya Janata Party to rise above party politics, Mr. Jogi said last year the State was faced with acute drought but the situation had been resolved by the implementation of `Food for Work' scheme that had changed challenges into opportunities. ``This year we are confronted with a challenge of excess. The paddy production is somewhere between 60-70 lakh tons, of which 30 lakh tons will be utilized for domestic consumption while the Government will have to buy the surplus.''

Earlier whenever there was a bumper crop, other States used to buy it. Things have now changed as every State is self- sufficient, barring Kerala and Assam which buy paddy from Chhatisgarh. Quoting Nobel Prize winner economist, Dr. Amartya Sen, the Chief Minister said the FCI godowns had 70 million tons of grain, but paradoxically a large percentage of people was under-nourished or even suffering from starvation.

Sympathising with the Central Government for being unable to lift paddy from the States, Mr. Jogi said even they were confronted with the problem of excess though he did point out that giving levy to rice here could help in relieving some pressure. Referring to the loan offer made by the Centre for procurement, Mr. Jogi said the State would not have been able to return the money within the stipulated two months. ``We would have needed at least a year for selling off the excess grain, by when the interest and the capital amount would have gone up to the extent which would imbalance our economy'', he said while informing the House that the Government had not taken an overdraft from the Reserve Bank of India even for a day since its creating.

Earlier, the Opposition members criticized the Government for its failure to lift paddy from the mandis. They alleged the paddy was being sold much below the support price of Rs 530-560 and there was no space in the mandis to keep the stock.

Stressing the need for formulating a national policy on paddy procurement, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Nand Kumar Sai said the Government had started lifting paddy from the markets only after October 1. Had it been done earlier, the situation would have been different.

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