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Post 3-day halt, paddy lifting picks up in mandis: Kataruchak
The minister stated that lifting of paddy has been going on smoothly in all centres of Amritsar, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Pathankot and Tarn Taran
Food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Lal Chand Kataruchak on Wednesday said with the weather easing out and witnessing of a bright sunny day ending a three-day rainy spell, paddy lifting has commenced in all districts across the state and 18 lakh bags of paddy have been lifted in a single day on Wednesday.
The minister stated that lifting of paddy has been going on smoothly in all centres of Amritsar, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Pathankot and Tarn Taran, while it commenced in Moga, Fatehgarh Sahib, SBS Nagar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Boha region of Mansa, Makhu and Mallanwala in Ferozepur, Gidderbaha in Muktsar, Barnala centre in Barnala, Sunam, Dhuri and Khanauri in Sangrur.
The minister further said seamless procurement operations are state government’s priority and of total arrival of 27 LMTs of paddy, nearly 10 LMTs have been already lifted and stored in eligible rice mills.
He said the state mandis are witnessing arrivals of nearly 1-1.5 LMT of paddy in a day, and almost all paddy arriving in a day gets purchased by the end of that day itself.
As of Wednesday, the unsold paddy across the state is less than one day arrival, despite heavy rains in most parts of the state during the past three days, which he said clearly shows that in most mandis, paddy is being cleaned and purchased on the date of arrival itself.
All arrangements of bardana, mandi labour and transportation are adequate across the state, he said.
Giving details of the MSP payments, he said nearly ₹5,100 crore had already been transferred directly to the accounts of the farmers.
