Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, GoI & reviews paddy procurement & implementation of One Nation One Ration Card scheme in Punjab

Shiv Kumar:

Chandigarh, October 23: Shri Sudhanshu Pandey, IAS, Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, visited Punjab to review the procurement of paddy during the ongoing Kharif season and implementation of One Nation One Ration Card. The review meeting was attended by the Shri Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, IAS, Secretary, Food & Supplies Punjab, Sh. R. K. Kaushik, IAS, Managing Director Punsup, Sh. Arshdeep Singh Thind, IAS, General Manager FCI RO Punjab, Sh. Varun Roojam, IAS, MD Markfed, Sh. Abhinav Trikha, IAS, Director, Food & Supplies, Sh. Yashanjit Singh, MD PSWC and Sh H S Brar, Joint Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board.

Director, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Punjab gave a detailed presentation on the status of procurement of paddy as per which 61 lakh MT paddy has arrived in the mandies of the State out of which 59 LMT stood procured by Govt agencies till yesterday. It was informed that payment of 8133 crores have been cleared by the Deptt on account of release of MSP to farmers directly in their accounts. The land records of 9.73 lakh farmers had been mapped on the procurement portal and all procurement was being done after due verification of land records of the farmers. The procurement and payment operations were showcased live on the portal. Union Secretary lauded the efforts made by the State Govt officials in ensuring Integration of land records in such a short time. He expressed satisfaction on the procurement operations  and seamless payment of MSP to farmers. He advised State Govt to encourage production of mustard and other oilseeds in the State from next season onwards.

Union Food Secretary also reviewed the implementation of One Nation One Ration Card scheme of GOI and noted sizeable no of Intra district and Inter district portability transactions in the State of Punjab. He informed that with an objective of including all migrant workers in the purview of National Food Security Act and provide them with subsidised ration, the GOI is developing an online portal through the NIC to capture details of all migrant labourers across the Country.

He also reviewed the progress of online submission of wheat sale bills and encouraged the State and FCI officials to switch over to online systems as early as possible.

He also asked the State Govt officials to consider  integration of the death registers with the NFSA beneficiary database so that the database gets automatically updated on death of any beneficiary.

Union Secretary appreciated that  to step up the production of Fortified rice in the State, State Govt has provided 5% incentive to rice millers who have installed automatic blenders. He asked the FCI to replicate this in other States also so as to achieve the targets of delivery of Fortified rice.