ONI Bureau: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked the Food and Public Distribution department to fix provisional incidental costs at a reasonable level for smooth continuance of procurement operations in the state.
In a letter to Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the CM said the incidental costs are extremely low, based on 2003-04 rates which is unacceptable and the state has not been able to pay the incidental costs and Odisha’s procurement grew from 0.60 lakh MT of paddy in 2003-04 to 52 lakh MT in 2016-17, the CM noted.