Paddy procurement: Govt to provide tabs to SHGs

State Food and Supplies department has decided to provide tabs to various Self Help Groups through whom the department would procure paddy.

The Food and Supplies minister of the state Jyotipriyo Mullick announced the scheme at a programme in Nadia. He said that around 10,000 Self Help Groups would be engaged from whom the state government would procure paddy at a price fixed by the government. Each Self Help Group would be given a tab so that the work can be done more smoothly.

Mullick said that the matter relating to the procurement of paddy would be decided in the block or district level. Various blocks would shift the responsibility to the mouza level where these Self Help Groups would manage various issues.

One Self Help Group will be assigned to take care of three mouzas. One person in the Self Help Group will have the responsibilities to collect all the paddies from the mouza. Then they will inform the department which will take the paddies from them through the rice mills. Around Rs 32 per quintal paddy would be given as the wage to the Self Help Groups as commission.

The department will not, however, engage the Self Help Groups. The District Magistrates will take care of this issue. Block Development Officers will select the Self Help Group and they will provide the list of the groups to the department through the district administration.

Mullick said that after going through the list, the department will distribute tabs among them free of cost. The training for using these tabs would be started this month, the minister reminded. In Burdwan, around 28 such Self Help Groups have already started work. The move was taken as the state government wants to strengthen the Self Help Groups further which will provide some financial assistance to the women involved in the groups, Mullick said.