Summary:
Kolkata: Three states, namely Kerala, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, have approached the Mamata Banerjee government seeking knowledge sharing on the "portal-based" mechanism that is being used by the state Food and Supplies department to procure paddy directly from farmers, negating involvement of middlemen. Based on the data, officials of the Food and Supplies department have easily reached the farmers and made procurement of 23.67 lakh tonnes of paddy in this season till mid-February. Out of the same, 14 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured directly through the Centralised Procurement Centres (CPC). Jyotiptiya Mallick, the state Food and Supplies minister, said: "The success has come just because of the initiatives taken up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The state Food and Supplies department used the data of the Krishak Bandhu portal to ease out the paddy procurement process, following a meeting with the state Agriculture department and a clearance from the Chief Minister's office..