Provide MSP to farmers: Mrinalini

​Vizianagaram: Minister for Rural Development K Mrinalini directed the Civil Supplies and Revenue staff to take all measures to provide minimum support price (MSP) to the paddy farmers and protect them from the clutches of middle man.

She reviewed paddy purchasing measures taken up in the district on Friday and instructed the officials to take steps to protect the interests of farmers. She told that due to availability of Thotapalli water to more lands, the production of paddy would likely be increased.

“The government has procured around 3.75 lakh tonnes of paddy from 166 paddy purchasing centres in the district. This year we will procure 50,000 tonnes more by adding some more purchasing centres,” she informed.

Collector Vivek Yadav told that the government had made all arrangements and were keeping more than one crore gunny bags in warehouses. “We are ready to take the warehouses of other departments to store the paddy bags,” he said.

ZP chairperson Swathi Rani, joint collector Srikesh Balaji, civil supplies officer Santhakumari, millers and others have participated in the meeting.