The state government on Friday wrote to the Centre to release Rs 1,600 crore under the National Food Security Scheme.
Jyotipriya Mallick, the state Food and Supplies minister, said: "Every day the state government has to pay an interest of Rs 4.7 lakh for thedelay in releasing the money. We procure the paddy from farmers on behalf of the Centre by taking loans from different banks. As the Centre is not giving the money, the interest is going up every day and the Centre only has to pay the interest as well along with the principal amount."
Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Principal Secretary of the Food and Supplies department, wrote to the Centre on Friday and sources said that the department has urged the Centre to take immediate steps in this regard.
The state government has been writing to the Centre since December. As many as 17 letters have been sent to no avail and the Centre is yet to release funds. "The total interest amount has touched nearly Rs 20 crore with the Centre's delay in clearing the fund," said Mallick adding that there is no question to stop procuring paddy from farmers. Thus, more loan has to be taken to procure paddy from farmers.
Till date, the state Food and Supplies department has procured 25.10 lakh metric tonne paddy and the plan is to procure 52 lakh that would be of great help to the farmers.
It may be mentioned that farmers have got saved as the state government has done the necessary arrangements to procure paddy from them despite not getting any funds from the Centre. There are several projects in the state for which the Centre had reduced their share of funds.
There are many projects in pipeline which are getting delayed just because as the Centre was delaying the release of funds.