2.97 lakh bales of gunny bags available in the districts, only 70,250 bales used.
2.27 lakh bales of gunny bags available for paddy procurement.
“For procuring paddy at support price, there is no shortage of gunny bags in the state. There are enough gunny bags available at the godowns, societies and procurement centres of all the districts. There will be no shortage of gunny bags for the next one and a half months.”, said Food Secretary T K Verma.
He further said that considering the estimated target for purchasing 110 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the state this year, the arrangement of 5 lakh 50 thousand bales of gunny bags has been ensured by the government.
Considering the sufficient availability of gunny bags in the state, 50 per cent of new and 50 per cent of old gunny bags are being used.
“So far 2 lakh 97 thousand bales of gunny bags have been received by the districts for procuring paddy, out of which only 70 thousand 250 bales of gunny bags have been used for procuring paddy. Now, 2 lakh 27 thousand bales of gunny bags are available for paddy procurement in the districts.”, he further added.
Food Secretary T.K. Verma said that the Jute Commissioner of the Government of India has approved 2 lakh 37 thousand bales of gunny bags for this year, out of which 2 lakh 17 thousand bales of gunny bags have been received so far.
About 42 thousand bales of new gunny bags were left in the last year. At present, 2 lakh 80 thousand bales of new gunny bags are available in the state, which are under use for custom milling of rice along with paddy procurement.
81,000 bales of plastic gunny bags from last year for paddy procurement and the remaining 6,000 bales of new plastic gunny bags are now being used along with the old gunny bags obtained from PDS and millers.
In some procurement centres of the state, there have been complaints of one or two torn and damaged gunny bags among the old gunny bags. It is being investigated and action will be taken against the concerned supplier as per the rules.
He further said that gunny bags are regularly supplying to the procurement centers on the basis of their demands. Under the guidance of the Collector, the officials of the Food and Cooperative Department are keeping a strict vigil on the procurement arrangements.
He also told that there are only 243 bales of gunny bags have been used in Bastar district for paddy procurement, 27 bales in Bijapur, 02 bales in Dantewada, 2664 bales in Kanker, 1059 bales in Kondagaon, 83 bales in Narayanpur, 29 bales in Sukma, 2047 bales in Bilaspur, 531 bales in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, 494 bales in Janjgir-Champa, 317 bales in Korba, 2452 bales in Mungeli, 556 bales in Raigarh, 203 bales in Sakti, 1653 bales in Sarangarh-Bilaigarh, 7004 bales in Balod, 6505 bales in Bemetara, 3620 bales in Durg, 3998 bales in Kawardha, 4954 bales in Rajnandgaon, 2579 bales in Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai, 949 bales in Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, 4246 bales in Balodabazar, 5688 bales in Dhamtari, 4003 bales in Gariyaband, 8467 bales in Mahasamund, 4483 bales in Raipur, 144 bales in Balrampur, 300 bales in Jashpur, 211 bales in Korea , 346 bales in Surajpur, 244 bales in Surguja and only 149 bales in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district. In this way only 70,250 bales of gunny bags have been used for paddy procurement, while 2 lakh 97 thousand bales of gunny bags have been provided to the above 33 districts so far.
Still 2 lakh 27 thousand bales of gunny bags are available in the districts for paddy procurement.