Chhattisgarh locks horns with Centre over paddy purchase

The Congress-led Chhattisgarh government has locked horns with the Centre over the procurement of paddy.

While the state government is insisting on increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and state’s quota in the central pool, the

Centre has reportedly denied the demand, citing Chhattisgarh’s higher procurement price. The state government is paying ~2,500 for a quintal of paddy to the farmers, as vowed in the election manifesto, which is ~750 more than the MSP fixed by the Centre.

In the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2018-19, the state government procured over 8.2 million tonnes (mt) of paddy. It has set a target of 8.7 mt in the current KMS as flow is likely to increase following high procurement price. The paddy procurement in the state will start from November 15.

The state officials raised the issue with the senior officials of the Centre during their recent visit. The latter reportedly refused to increase the state’s quota, citing sufficient quantity of rice in the stock. The Centre had procured 2.4 mt of rice in the last KMS from Chhattisgarh. The state government wanted to increase it to 3.2 mt in the current KMS.

The Centre had said the MSP was fixed for all the states and norms cannot be changed only for Chhattisgarh. It also said it did not want to create a pile of rice stock by purchasing from the states without sufficient demand.

Chhattisgarh, though, seems to be in no mood to give up. “I had sought an appointment with you (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) to personally discuss the issue in view of urgency of the matter,” Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said in a letter to the Prime Minister. He could not get the appointment, Baghel added.