Kolkata: The state Agriculture minister Asish Banerjee will hold meeting with his counterpart Jyotipriya Mallick, the state Food and Supplies minister, in Nadia and Murshidabad to chalk out a plan of action to distribute atta in the districts.
The decision to distribute atta in these two districts was taken up as there was no cultivation due to wheat blast.
Banerjee along with Pradip Mazumder, advisor to the Chief Minister on agriculture, held a high-level meeting with Mallick in this connection on Tuesday. The meeting was held at the office of the state Foods and Supplies department at Khadya Bhavan.
After the meeting, the agriculture minister said they will be holding the meeting in both Nadia and Murshidabad soon.
"We will be holding meetings in both the districts soon.
It may be recalled that crops on a 1000-hectre of land was affected in Nadia and Murshidabad in 2017 due to wheat blast. In a bid to ensure that it doesn't spread further, cultivation of wheat was stopped. The restriction on cultivation of wheat is going to continue for the next one year.
"Now with the restriction in cultivation of wheat, there will be shortage in supply of atta in the districts. Hence, the state government is taking necessary steps to ensure sufficient supply of atta in the two districts by these means," Banerjee said.
The state Food and Supplies department will be playing a crucial role in this connection as atta will be given through the public distribution system and the people of these two districts can buy it at the market price.
As per the assessment goes, there is a requirement of around 2000 metric tonne and 8000 metric tonne atta for Murshidabad and Nadia district respectively.
It may be recalled that the state government had taken several steps to help farmers carry out alternate farming by cultivating mustard and pulses when wheat cannot be grown. Moreover, the farmers have received compensation as wheat had to be burnt to check the disease.
The state government is seriously looking into the matter of cultivating wheat at Domkal in Murshidabad despite the restriction and would take strict steps in this connection.