Vijayawada: The civil supplies department will soon establish a dedicated command control room at its headquarters in Kanuru to ensure transparency in procurement operations, closely monitor grain purchases and promptly resolve farmers’ grievances, civil supplies minister Nadendla Manohar said on Tuesday. 

Addressing the general body meeting of the Andhra Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation at the department’s headquarters in Kanuru, Manohar said the proposed command control room would continuously monitor procurement activities and help prevent delays faced by farmers. 

“A special dashboard linked to the command control room will soon be developed to make civil supplies services more accessible and transparent to the public. We will give priority to complete transparency and effective monitoring and use emerging technologies to bring department services closer to the people,” he said. 

Manohar said services being provided to farmers through WhatsApp had already yielded good results. 

During the rabi season, around 67,000 metric tonnes of paddy had been scheduled for procurement through WhatsApp, and efforts were underway to expand the facility further.

He cautioned farmers and officials to remain alert to the possible impact of El Niño in the coming months. The government was likely to accord greater priority to drinking water than irrigation, and farmers should be suitably advised at the field level, he said. 

“Farmers have placed complete faith in the government and are cultivating crops on a large scale. In a district such as Eluru, despite rainfall being 74 per cent below normal, crop cultivation has reportedly increased by 400 per cent.

 This is not an encouraging trend,” Manohar said. He called for promoting crops that require less water in view of the possibility of deficient rainfall and said the available water resources might have to be managed until June. 

Officials should create awareness among farmers about water conservation and suitable crop choices, he added. The Minister also announced measures to ensure immediate payment of transportation charges to farmers from the coming kharif season. 

Farmers had been facing difficulties related to gunny bags and transportation, he said, adding that arrangements were being made to promptly reimburse farmers who arrange their own vehicles to transport paddy. 

“There will be no need for farmers to wait for months for transportation charges,” he said. To address the shortage of gunny bags, PP bags would be introduced. 

The department would also deploy RFID technology, which is more advanced than QR codes, from the coming season to strengthen monitoring and curb the illegal transportation of rice.

AP Civil Supplies Corporation chairman Thota Sudheer and managing director Kannababu attended the meeting.