Centre Assures Odisha Support in Paddy Procurement, PDS

Bhubaneswar: The Central government has assured full support to Odisha in streamlining paddy procurement and ensuring seamless transportation of paddy-laden vehicles from mandis to mills.

Union Public Food and Public Distribution Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, who arrived in Bhubaneswar today, held a review meeting at Lok Seva Bhawan with Odisha Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja and other senior officials to discuss key issues related to the state’s food supply chain.

During the meeting, Principal Secretary of the Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Department, Sanjay Kumar Singh, highlighted the progress in paddy procurement and the public distribution system. He informed that 91% of beneficiaries under the National and State Food Security Act have completed their e-KYC verification.

Efforts are also underway to provide internet access to 341 government-run fair price shops (FPS) in areas with weak mobile networks, facilitating the e-KYC process for 12 lakh beneficiaries. Singh noted that networking has already been enabled in 111 FPSs. Additionally, the state government has intensified door-to-door verification for nearly 30 lakh beneficiaries yet to complete their e-KYC.

As part of his visit, Chopra inspected a Fair Price Shop at Unit-9, a godown at Mancheswar, and a Grain ATM, where he interacted with beneficiaries to assess the distribution process.

The review meeting was attended by key officials, including State Civil Supplies Corporation Managing Director Shubham Saxena, Food Corporation of India Executive Director Manoj Kumar Gogoi, Odisha FCI General Manager Nihar Ranjan Pradhan, and Central Warehousing Corporation General Manager Narendra Kumar.