Haryana Government would conduct the e-auction of PUSA-1509 paddy at the reserve price of Rs1,613 per quintal. The price of paddy has been fixed by including its minimum support price along with all other expenses, said Haryana Food and Supplies Minister Karan Dev Kamboj.
Kamboj said that the State Government had procured a total of 1.72 lakh metric tonnes of PUSA-1509 paddy for Rs 250 crore during the previous paddy procurement season.
This paddy was procured at minimum support price of Rs 1,450, but the rate was later fixed at Rs 1,613 per quintal due to other expenses, including transportation, packing and shredding. The State Government would now sell this paddy through open auction to obtain 67 per cent rice from it, he said.
The Minister said that the former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and INlD leader Abhay Singh Chautala, had tried to mislead the farmers and general public in this matter by leveling allegations of a paddy scam to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore against the present State Government. Following this, Haryana Government had got conducted physical verification of the paddy, in which the stock was found to be complete.
Kamboj said that a total of about six lakh metric tonnes of PUSA-1509 variety of paddy had arrived in the mandis of Haryana, of which government agencies had procured just 1.72 lakh metric tonnes of paddy while remaining paddy was procured by private dealers.
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, PUSA, New Delhi, had developed the PUSA Basmati-1509 variety about three years ago, which could not be categorised under Basmati variety. Due to less demand of this variety, it was being sold at a lower rate, but the present government had issued directions to procure this variety at minimum support price of Rs1,450 per quintal by including it under Grade-A category of paddy. This has led to benefits to the tune of Rs300 crore to Rs400 crore to the farmers of the state, said Kamboj.
The Minister said that in deference to the demand of the farmers, the State Government had started the procurement process from September 24 instead of October 1, 2015. This ensured that farmers did not face any difficulties while selling their produce. Besides this, senior IAS officers and officers of market committee were deputed to monitor the procurement process at district level, he added.