Officials keeping their fingers crossed as wheat procurement begins today

Even as the district administrations of southern Punjab claim to have geared up for wheat procurement starting Saturday, officials are keeping their fingers crossed

Even as the district administrations of southern Punjab claim to have geared up for wheat procurement starting Saturday, officials are keeping their fingers crossed.

A worker dries wheat at the grain market in Bathinda on Friday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

People familiar with the matter said there may be a chaos if the arhtiyas remain adamant on boycotting procurement.

The Punjab Mandi Board has started distributing coupons to farmers through arhtiyas for staggered purchase but they have not to make the situation clear for their participation in the process.

“The field staff has been asked to follow the traditional practice where arhtiyas play the crucial role for service providers. After a farmer lands in mandi, it is the arhtiyas who provide labour for cleaning, packing and loading wheat. Their respective offices maintain all procurement records related to farmers and if these agents stayed away, there is absolutely no other way,” said an official engaged in purchase.

State authorities have deputed officials for procurement duties and all arrangements, including sanitisation, drinking water, hand sanitisers and Covid-19 vaccination at the mandis.

Officials said the situation may go out of hand if farmers arrive in grain markets and there is no work.

“Malwa belt districts, particularly Mansa, Bathinda and Sangrur, have a common practice where the farmer unions gather in a large numbers even at the slightest incident. The police administration is needed to be on alert for smooth working in mandis across the state,” said another official.

Bathinda mandi officer Preet Kanwar Singh Brar said there is hardly any demand for purchase on day one. “We will issue coupons on the basis of demand by farmers. Harvesting will pick up pace in the next week,” he said.

Ranjnish Goel, head of Mansa district, said coupons have been issued to arhtiyas on Thursday and the department expects a smooth procurement season.

1,830 coupons issued in Patiala

PATIALA: All preparations are in place for wheat procurement in Patiala. To avoid rush of farmers at the purchasing centres in wake of Covid-19, the administration has issued 1,830 coupons and set up 352 additional purchasing centres to ensure that precautions and protocol related to Covid-19 are followed. Only farmers with hologram coupons will be allowed to enter the purchasing centres to ensure hassle-free operations.

The district administrations of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur claimed that proper arrangement has been put in place for the wheat procurement. The mandi board officials of Jalandhar said that they have issued passes to the arhtiyas who will further give to farmers.