Raise procurement target: State to Centre

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 26

Amid the one-upmanship to woo farmers ahead of elections, the Punjab Government has asked the Centre to enhance the target of paddy procurement to 187.5 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) even as the state authorities continue to buy whatever paddy is arriving in the mandis.

The paddy procurement in the state officially ended on November 12. Till then, a little over 184 LMT of paddy had been purchased against the targeted 169 LMT.

As the realpolitik in the state continued to sway in favour of the farmers, the state government asked its officials to

continue buying whatever paddy was arriving in the mandis. In order to ensure that the government agencies were not sold paddy from outside the state, Punjab even set up committees headed by deputy commissioners to monitor the purchase.

“On an average, 10,000-20,000 MT of paddy is still arriving daily in some mandis, and we have been asked to have it procured subject to a verification report by the deputy commissioner concerned,” a senior official in the department of food and supplies said, adding that the government had promised to purchase all paddy arriving in the mandis at a meeting with Kisan unions earlier this month. Till today, 187.23 LMT of paddy has been purchased in the state. The state food supplies department has now shot off a letter to the Centre, urging it to enhance the purchase target to 187.5 LMT.