For successful operation of Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) during the 2015-16 Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), the State Government on Wednesday decided to apply the system in 160 high procuring blocks of various districts targeting to achieve 90 per cent of the total procurement through the system.
The decision was taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary GC Pati at which Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary Madhusudan Padhi presented the updates and outlined the issues for discussion.
Pati directed the department to make the system farmer-centric and introduce systematic changes for making it error-free basing on the hitches experienced last year. The department was advised to take advance steps for imparting training to the PACS personnel regarding farmers’ registration, appropriate entry on online data and maintenance of records, etc. The department was also advised to link farmers’ registration number with his Aadhaar number. A farmer who does not have Aadhaar number should be motivated to get registered at permanent registration centres operating at the tehsil level.
The P-PAS was successful in 60 blocks during the 2014-15 KMS. Around 2.29 lakh farmers had been brought into its fold, and 49 per cent of the total procurement was done through the automated system.