Two hundred development assistant officers and a number of Civil Defence Force personnel were deployed at Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) purchasing centres from yesterday to expedite the process of paddy purchasing from farmers across the country.

This project has been expedited on the instructions of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Farmers who come to PMB stalls to sell their produce will not be turned away as a result, PMB Chairman M.B. Dissanayake said while addressing a press conference held at Government Information Department.

He said those assigned to purchase paddy have to work even on holidays.

Dissanayake said the PMB hopes there would be a bumper paddy this Yala season compared to the last Maha season paddy harvest which was 160,000 metric tonnes.

Arrangements have been made for the farmers to obtain money from the Bank of Ceylon and People's Bank, he said.

Dissanayake said 103 out of 177 granaries under the PMB receive paddy from farmers islandwide.

The PMB has also arranged to send lorries to collect paddy from farmers who live beyond 30km from PMB stalls, he said.

"We have never turned back any farmers giving them the excuse of not having enough storage facilities. Plans are afoot to construct new granaries for future use. The storage facilities of the Food Department, Co-operative Department and several stores of the Army have already been utilised to store the Yala season paddy harvest," the PMB head said.

"There was congestion at the PMB stalls because we insisted on maintaining standards and procedures when purchasing paddy from farmers. In case we exceed the capacity of our storage facilities, we have made plans to acquire storage facilities at Mattala Airport," he said.

"We are also aware that there is a plan to sabotage our plans of purchasing paddy from the farmers by those who have lost the opportunity to exploit them by purchasing the harvest for a lesser price," he said.

(Government Official News Portal)