Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the Khadyashree Bhawan, the newly constructed head office of the department of Food and Supplies, from Nabanna through remote control on Friday. State Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick and principal secretary, Food and Supplies department Manoj Kumar Agarwal were present on the occasion. "Rice and wheat will be distributed from here (Khadyashree Bhawan)," Mallick told Millennium Post. Khadyashree Bhawan, a seven-storey building situated at Mirza Ghalib Street, will have a cafeteria and parking facility at the basement. According to the officials, different sections of the Food and Supplies department will be transferred to the Khadyashree Bhawan. The state Food and Supplies minister will also sit there. The inauguration of the Khadyashree Bhawan comes seven months after Mamata Banerjee expressed concern over the middleman menace. She had also reiterated that the government wanted to procure directly from the farmers, thereby increasing the target of the overall paddy requirement in the state. Both the Agriculture and Food Supplies department have started a massive crackdown on the middlemen in all the districts to eliminate the earlier practice prevailing in the state so far. This apart, the state Agriculture and Food and Supplies department has also decided to install an advanced machine at all the Kisan Mandis to ensure better monitoring of the operations.

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