Punjab's Chief Secretary Anurag Verma visited Khanna grain market to review wheat procurement. He ensured timely payment and directed agencies to address farmers' concerns.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
Khanna (Punjab), Apr 26 (PTI) Punjab's Chief Secretary Anurag Verma on Friday visited Khanna 'mandi' (grain market) and reviewed the ongoing procurement of wheat.
He directed the procurement agencies to ensure that farmers do not face any problems in the 'mandis', according to an official statement.
Verma said that during the current procurement season, 132 lakh metric tonnes of wheat are expected to arrive in the grain markets of the state.
"Out of this, till yesterday evening 66.8 LMT of wheat had arrived in the mandis. Out of this, 60.9 LMT has already been purchased," he said.
The top official said all efforts are being made that the crop is cleaned, purchased and weighed within 24 hours of its arrival in the mandis. Once this is done the farmer is free to leave the grain market and payment will be credited into his account within 48 hours of purchase and he will get an SMS in this regard.
So far, a payment of Rs 9,170 crore has already been made to the farmers. The payment has been made to more than 4 lakh farmers so far, he added.
The chief secretary also interacted with the farmers.
Verma further said that due to delay in harvesting, the arrivals in the 'mandis' were initially slow and peaked suddenly, but the entire state machinery is working round-the-clock to ensure that the farmers do not face any problems.
Last year, peak lifting in a single day was 4.8 LMT. The record was breached on Thursday when lifting reached 5.5 LMT, he said.
Verma said that he is reviewing the progress with Deputy Commissioners via video conference every alternate day.
The official also said that he has directed all the Deputy Commissioners to visit the 'mandis' daily and ensure that the crop lifting is increased to 6.5 lakh metric tonnes per day.
So far, as Khanna mandi is concerned, till yesterday evening 54,000 metric tons of wheat arrived and 100 per cent of this has been purchased, he said.
Verma said that the government is committed to ensuring that the crop of the farmers is purchased immediately in the mandis.
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