Bhubaneswar: Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department Friday directed all District Collectors to take precautionary measures to protect the procured paddy in the wake of rainfall forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In a letter, the department’s special secretary Sudam Charan Mandal said, “According to forecast by IMD, light to moderate rain is very likely to occur in some districts till February 25.
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In view of the rainfall forecast, it is crucial to implement precautionary measures to protect procured paddy from moisture damage and quality deterioration.” The department suggested measures like creating awareness among farmers about the importance of storing harvested paddy in safe locations, accelerating the evacuation of paddy from paddy procurement centres (mandis), in coordination with the tagged millers, ensuring that all paddy stacks are covered with high-quality tarpaulin sheets to prevent exposure to rain, maintaining proper drainage systems around storage areas to prevent water logging, using covered trucks with waterproof sheets during transportation, deploying monitoring teams to oversee storage conditions and taking immediate action if needed, the letter said.
