Thiruvananthapuram: Due to the constant intervention of the state government, the central government has sanctioned the arrears of Rs.852.29 crore. This includes Rs. 116 crore that the state was supposed to receive in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Food and Public Distribution Minister GR Anil had requested the Central Government several times and met with the Union Food Minister to release the dues to the state.
According to the rice procurement scheme, the central government has to pay the support price to the farmers. Supplyco, the nodal agency appointed by the state government for the implementation of the scheme, processes the paddy procured from the farmers and distributes it to the beneficiaries through ration shops. This process will take six to eight months to complete. Apart from this delay, in order to provide procurement price to the farmers, the amount is made available to the farmers under the guarantee of Supplyco through banks as PRS loan and after receiving the amount from the government, Supplyco itself repays the bank loan.
However, due to the central government not sanctioning the support rate in time, loan repayments are delayed and banks are often reluctant to grant re-lending. This is the reason why there was a delay in paying prices to rice farmers during the last procurement season, the Agriculture Minister’s office said.
