Today, on 26.11.2025, an important review meeting was organized in the Minister’s Room of the Food and Consumer Protection Department for detailed discussion on the challenges related to paddy procurement and their solutions. The meeting was presided over by Honorable Minister of Food and Consumer Protection Department, Smt. Leshi Singh. Honorable Minister of Cooperative Department, Dr. Pramod Kumar was also specially present in the meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, a detailed presentation was given by Shri Ramendra Kumar, General Manager (Procurement), Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, on the current status of paddy procurement, quality of rice, and the entire process of converting ordinary rice into fortified rice. In the presentation, practical challenges being faced at PACS level during procurement as well as important points related to logistics and processing were also underlined.
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Honorable Minister Smt. Leshi Singh seriously listened to the issues raised by the PACS representatives and directed the officials to take necessary action. In the meeting, it was decided to take immediate steps for two major demands of PACS – investigation of actual capacity of rice mills and prompt execution of pending payments. The Minister clearly said that any delay in payment to PACS is not acceptable and all pending payments should be completed within the stipulated period. Another important demand of PACS was also considered during the review meeting, wherein they wanted facility of interest-free period up to a total of six months related to procurement instead of two months period. In this regard, the Honorable Minister assured PACS that the department will consider this proposal positively and take necessary decisions soon, so that the financial pressure on PACS units can be reduced.
It was agreed in the meeting that a detailed meeting would soon be organized with the Presidents of all the District Cooperative Banks across the State to ensure transparency in the paddy procurement process and to strengthen the coordination between PACS and the Government. Agreeing to this proposal, both the Honorable Ministers of the Food and Consumer Protection Department and the Cooperative Department assured the PACS representatives that the department is committed to solving all the challenges related to procurement.
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Lastly, Hon’ble Minister Smt. Leshi Singh said that the Government is continuously striving to protect the interests of farmers, strengthen PACS and make the procurement process transparent. The objective of the department is to ensure that paddy procurement is done in a smooth and time bound manner and better facilities can be provided to all concerned parties. Principal Secretary of Food and Consumer Protection Department Mr. Pankaj Kumar, Secretary Mr. Nayyar Iqbal, Secretary of Cooperative Department Mr. Dharmendra Singh along with senior officials of both the departments and Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited and representatives of PACS were present in the meeting.