Berhampur: The state government has taken up a series of measures to facilitate smooth paddy procurement during the rabi season in the interest of farmers, revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro said on Thursday.

Patro was speaking at the collectors' conference of 10 southern districts on paddy procurement.

He said: "The online process to register farmers for paddy procurement will have no time limit and continue till the procurement is complete. This will help the farmers, and we expect more enrolment this year."

"Though 70 per cent of the state's population are farmers, only nine to 11 lakh had registered for procurement last year. We expect the figure to cross 20 lakh this year," he said.

Patro said sharecroppers would be treated as farmers and they could avail themselves of the facility by registering online. The local sarpanch will have to certify that the person is a sharecropper and farmer.

"The government has arranged to pay the price of paddy procured within 24 hours via online payment. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will distribute RuPay cards to five lakh farmers on November 15 during the Co-operative Week. An awareness campaign to educate the farmers about the online registration process and other basic ideas will be transmitted through various channels and loudspeakers," he said.

"We have also restricted the movement (transfer) of secretaries of all co-operative societies to Bhubaneswar during the paddy procurement. In unavoidable circumstances, the secretaries can move with prior permission of the district collector, who would also act as the additional registrar of co-operative societies. Action under the Essential Commodities Act would be taken against the erring secretaries as well as the mill owners in case of delays," he said.

The conference was presided over by revenue division commissioner (south) T. Aao. The co-operative department's secretary-cum-commissioner Ranjana Chopra and food and supply secretary B.B. Yadav attended the conference.