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Probe into sharp rise in paddy arrivals in Punjab mandis
State authorities alerted after procurement almost equals volumes recorded in the entire season
The food and civil supplies department in Punjab is investigating reasons for an unprecedented increase in paddy procurement in some of the state’s mandis and grain markets.
State authorities were alerted after procurement almost touched volumes usually recorded in the entire season even as paddy arrivals continue.
At a meeting held on Thursday, the state food department, mandi board and the agriculture directorate raised concerns over 170 lakh tonnes of paddy arriving in mandis in excess of projected estimates in the last week of September.
Twelve districts out of 22 have reported increased arrivals as compared to the previous kharif season.
Joint teams of the food and supplies, revenue and agriculture department are visiting the mandis in question.
“From the mandis we will go back to arthiyas and farmers who have sold their produce to match their total yield with what has been recorded with the mandi board,” said a food department official not wishing to be named.
“We will establish the link between production and procurement which is the way to identify wrongdoing. We know how much the average yield is and will find out how much arrived in the mandi,” the official added.
The teams will investigate suspected bogus billing, twisting of production figures and selling of premium basmati grain, particularly the 1509 variety on MSP with the coarse grain.
Reports say that as the 1509 variety has not fetched a good price a number of farmers have sold premium grains as the parmal variety which comes under MSP.
Paddy procured this season is almost double the volume procured last year in the border district of Fazilka.
The other districts include Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, SAS Nagar and Tarn Taran, where at least 50 mandis are under the official scanner.
The food department, however, refused to release other details, saying local leaders have been opposing checks and scrutiny.
“We have already touched 168 lakh tonnes and expect that total procurement will go beyond 185 lakh tonnes. So we have decided to reach the root cause (of why arrivals are increasing), especially when we are facing allegations that paddy has been smuggled in from outside the states and some qualities have been seized on the state border,” said the state’s food and civil supplies minister, Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Last month, 75 trucks loaded with freshly harvested paddy from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were stopped at the state border.
With paddy arrivals at an estimated 182 lakh tonnes the state food department is making arrangements for funds, (cash credit limits) and gunny bags. “We have to make arrangement for storage of the grains,” the official added.
