Minister refutes Kodikunnil’s charges on paddy procurement
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil has strongly refuted the accusations levelled by Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, against the State government over alleged lapses in the paddy procurement system.
The senior Congress leader had blamed the government for its failure in submitting audit reports from 2017-18 to 2023-24 to the Centre, purportedly resulting in the Centre withholding its share of procurement price.
In a statement, Mr. Anil clarified the Centre owes the State outstanding dues amounting to ₹647 crore for the period from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Of the total amount, only a claim of ₹84.12 crore has been withheld due to the non-submission of the audit reports.
Supplyco, which operates over 1600 retail stores, is currently in the process of conducting the audit process across its expansive network, he added.
The remaining amount, the Minister alleged, had been withheld by the Centre for “unfair” reasons, including the distribution of ration supply to non-priority cardholders. Anomalies in the Centre’s IT system have also resulted in some dues getting withheld.
Despite such adverse circumstances, the State government is nearing completion of payments to farmers for paddy procurement during the second crop season of 2023-24.
The government had procured 5.59 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 1,98,755 farmers, resulting in total dues amounting to ₹1584.11 crore.
Of these, only 3486 farmers are yet to receive payments totalling ₹25.64 crore. The dues will be cleared within a few days, the Minister said.
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