Thiruvananthapuram: The State Bank of India (SBI) is set to hand over to farmers today Rs 40 crore which was due to them as procurement price of paddy.

If the farmers submit documents including the Paddy Receipt Sheet (PRS), the money will be transferred to the accounts of the farmers. The branches of SBI functioned on Sunday as well for processing the documents in this regard.

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In the past few days, SBI distributed Rs 57.32 crore to 486 farmers and Canara Bank distributed Rs 15 crore to 2,830 farmers.

The Supplyco and banks had reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for taking Rs 240 crore for the second time as loans from the consortium of banks in order to clear the dues on the price of paddy procured for the 2022-23 season before the Onam festival.

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The banks began the payment of money on August 24. However, Supplyco claimed the banks could not to distribute the money before Onam to all the farmers. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G R Anil alleged in a press conference that there was a lapse on the part of the banks in this regard.

It was the delay in getting the Central allocation that forced Supplyco to go for the MoU with the consortium of banks to hand over the money to the farmers immediately. The Centre will release the funds after the State submits details of account related to the expenses on paddy transport to the mills, conversion into rice by de-hulling, and its supply through ration shops. This process takes around four to six months. The State’s share of Rs 7.92 per kg as incentive bonus and handling charges was paid to the farmers earlier.

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(PRS is issued by Supplyco which procures the grain. The State has been paying as PRS loans the support price of Rs 20.40 per kg that the Central Government should disburse as its share. PRS loans are money given to farmers on the basis of the PRS. Although the State Government pays the interest on the PRS loans, if it fails to pay the interest and the principal on time, it will impact the CIBIL score of the farmers. The loans have a term limit of one year.)

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