Agartala, December 07, 2023: At a time when the government is preparing to procure 40,000 metric tonnes of paddy from 49 procurement centres at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 21.83 per kilogram starting December 11, the state committee of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) on Thursday sought the intervention of the minister of food and civil supplies to demand rise in MSP and setting up of procurement centres in tribal dominated areas.
Addressing a press conference here at Agartala on Thursday, the AIKS state committee leader Pabitra Kar said, “The MSP announced by the government in line with the Centre may inflict losses on farmers as it does not include C2+50 (1.5 times of the input cost) criteria as was announced by PM Modi before 2014.”
“We moved to the minister on Thursday and demanded the government to review the MSP on the basis of C2+50 (1.5 times of the input cost) criteria and ensure enhancement of the farmers’ income in the state,” he said, adding that the minister agreed to their demand and assured of taking the matter with the Chief Minister.
He said, “We reviewed the MSP and found it to be of around Rs. 28.50 per kilogram. We demanded the minister to review it accordingly and increase the MSP for the welfare of the farmers.”
“We also demanded the minister to increase procurement centres for paddy procurement as several parts of the state were found to be excluded from the lists of 49 procurement centres as announced by the government recently,” Kar told reporters.
He said, “There is also a need to set up paddy procurement centres in the tribal dominated areas. We demanded the government to set up paddy procurement centres in all the 58 blocks of the state.”
“The minister agreed to our demand and assured us of looking into the matter of increase of paddy procurement from the next session,” he said.
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