No central policy on maize procurement: Punjab to HC
The Punjab government on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that the central government does not have any policy for procurement of maize under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme.
The Punjab government on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that the central government does not have any policy for procurement of maize under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme.
The HC had asked Punjab to choose a scheme for maize procurement after the Centre had offered the state two options - food subsidy from the department of food and public distribution or compensation from the department of agriculture and cooperation (DAC) for procurement of coarse grains - maize and bajra - on MSP.
The Punjab government told the court it would opt for scheme wherein compensation is offered to procurement agencies and states, but added that the Centre be first directed to come out with a scheme on maize procurement. If the procurement is to be done by the state, the Centre would have to provide full financial, technical and logistic support as is done in the case of paddy and wheat, the government said.
The HC slammed the state government on sunflower procurement after National Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), a central procurement agency, told the court that Punjab was yet to notify the date of procurement. Haryana has already notified the date and will start sunflower procurement from June 1, the court was told. .The Punjab government has been given time till May 26 to come up with a plan for sunflower procurement.