Chandigarh, December 3 – At the behest of Government of Punjab, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public distribution has granted one-time exemption to the State in implementation of online ‘Procurement and Payment System’ and has directed FCI to accept Custom Milled Rice (CMR) for Kharif Marketing Season 2019-20, informed Anindita Mitra, Director Food and Civil Supplies Department, Punjab
Mitra said that State has been granted the exemption as a special case, since in comparison to previous seasons Punjab has shown improvement regarding online registration of farmers and also improved online payment by Artiyas through Public Financial Management System (PFMS). About 2557 farmers towards the end of the procurement season, were made online payment via PFMS, she informed and added that the
State has assured Department of Food and Public Distribution, GoI that online procurement system will be implemented by the Rabi Marketing Season 2020-21 and state will update monthly status on the progress in this regard to the Department.
Pertinently, FCI was to earlier directed to accept CMR for KMS 2019-20 and make payments to the State agencies only if the payments are made online directly to the registered farmers’ account by the State agencies of Punjab & Haryana. Besides, the States were also asked to do the procurement through online procurement system; including registration of farmers.
