The paddy procurement in Chhattisgarh started on October 21, but at least eight procurement centres in Durg district continued to remain empty as no one came so far to sell the commodity, officials said.
The administration has been procuring paddy by setting up as many as 77 procurement centres in the district. However, the procurement was underway only in 69 of them. Paddy crops were matured and farmers were busy in cutting and stacking them in the fields. While some farmers were yet to cut the paddy, those who were ready to sell their paddy were not reaching the procurement centre due to lack of faith on the weighing machines at the centre.
The concerned bank has already received about Rs 10 crore from the markfed to pay the farmers. Those who sold their commodities were being paid in the centres. Although, procurement for this year has picked up across most of the places, some centres faced storage problem as paddy procured last year were yet to be lifted.
Senior official SS Saxena said eight lakh four thousand quintals of paddy procured last year were still laying idle in different centres.He said that the paddy can be supplied to rice millers until next two months and about 25 millers have registered with the administration.