About 26.87 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of leviable paddy and 0.76 lMT of non-leviable paddy have so far arrived in the mandis (grain markets) of Haryana during the current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2015-16.
As many as 25.02 lMT leviable paddy has been purchased by procurement agencies on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and 1.85 lMT by millers and dealers, said a spokesman of the Food and Supplies Department on Monday.
He said that during the KMS 2014-15, a quantity of 15.30 lMT of leviable paddy and 1.87 lMT of non-leviable paddy had arrived in the mandis of the state and 15.25 lMT leviable paddy was purchased on MSP by agencies and 0.05 by millers and dealers.
This year, Kurukshetra has procured the maximum amount of over 7.08 lMT paddy followed by Karnal where over 5.89 lMT paddy is procured. Similarly, over 3.80 lMT of paddy is procured in Ambala, over 3.51 lMT in Kaithal, over 1.91 lMT in Yamunanagar, over 1.30 lMT in Fatehabad, 81,972 MT in Panchkula, 38,416 MT in Sirsa, 26,691 MT in Jind, 1,057 MT in Palwal, 712 MT in Hisar and 72 MT of paddy is procured in Rohtak.
The spokesman said that during KMS 2015-16, a quantity of 12,054 MT of Bajra has arrived in the mandis of the State of which a quantity of 3,609 MT has been purchased on MSP by agencies, including 3,345 MT by Hafed, 43 MT by Food Department and 221 MT by Haryana Warehousing Corporation and remaining 8,445 MT by traders whereas last year no procurement of Bajra was made on MSP.
Jhajjar has procured the maximum amount of Bajra at 3,276 MT followed by Rohtak at 221 MT. Similarly, 43 MT Bajra has been procured in Bhiwani, 40 MT in Narnaul, 20 MT in Rewari and nine MT in Mewat.
The spokesman said that the State Government has decided to distribute bajra under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) at a rate of `1 per kg at the scale of 10 kg per family other than the wheat to be distributed under National Food Security Act (NFSA).
During last one year, approval has been given to three projects for constructing godowns of 89,678 MT at Bhorsainda in district Kurukshetra, Kharkhoda in Sonepat and Tigaon in district Faridabad for a capacity of 26,380 MT, 42,200 MT and 21,098 MT respectively.
Also, NABARD has approved a loan of `44.29 crore which accounts for 95 per cent of these projects under Warehousing Infrastructure Fund (WIF) and the remaining amount of `2.33 crore is to be borne by the State Government.
The spokesman added that the implementation of end-to-end computerisation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) operations started in November 2014. In last one year, digitisation and verification of 29,42,2386 families/ration cards has been completed. Also, digitisation of 9,798 Fair Price Shops (FPS) and 374 godowns has been completed in the State.
The Government is also carrying out trial/pilot of FPS automation at 20 FPS in district Panchkula, after successful trial/pilot, the FPS automation would be rolled out in five districts by March 2016.
After completion of end-to-end computerisation project which is in the last phase of its implementation, the actual beneficiaries will get their ration as per their entitlement ensuring that the distribution become transparent and all the diversion stop through this system, he added.