To streamline paddy procurement, generate awareness among farmers and maintain transparency, a millers’ meet for procurement of Kharif paddy was held here on Friday.

Millers, agents and officials of concerned Departments attended the meet. District Collector Pramod Das, BBCC Bank secretary Biswajit Das, Civil Supplies Officer Jayshankar Manipatra, BCIC president Himansu Das, All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association chairman Santosh Agarwal and OCSIC assistant manager S Sahu were present.

At the meeting, the officials were unanimous that paddy would be procured through primary cooperative societies, PACS; and optimum transparency would be maintained during procurement.

The farmers were asked to register themselves so that they can prove their identities through various cards, including Voter ID, Kisan Credit Card, Biju Krushka Kalyan Card, etc.

“The PACS will intimate the date of paddy procurement to the farmers of a particular patch in a week advance. The farmers registered with mobile

number will be communicated about the date of procurement. Besides, a banner will be displayed at the procurement centre mentioning

the MSP and other required information,” an official said.

The grade and quality would be fixed with the help of tools like sample divider, analysis kit, moister metre, etc. The payment would be made to the farmers through cheques, he added.

A register would be maintained for all activities during procurement like procurement, dispatch, transit pass to millers, etc.