Procurement picks up pace in Doaba amid snags

JALANDHAR Farmers on Monday protested against the delay in procurement of their produce at Nadala grain market of Doaba region, comprising Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Hoshiarpur districts

JALANDHAR Farmers on Monday protested against the delay in procurement of their produce at Nadala grain market of Doaba region, comprising Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Hoshiarpur districts.

In Jalandhar, the procurement has been by and large been smooth at 137 purchase centres amid complaints of gunny bag shortage and late payments . (HT Photo)

Farmers Puran Singh and Nawjinder Singh said they were camping at the grain market for five days and didn’t succeed in selling their crop yet. District mandi officer Arvinder Singh said most of the issues have already been resolved. “We have already procured more than 40% of the crop as compared to last year,” he said.

District food supply controller Geeta said that the issue of gunny bags has already been resolved as the government has allowed arhtiyas to use the old gunny bags. “The delay in payment was due to holidays, while lifting has picked up pace. The procurement will as smooth as before in a day,” she said.

In Jalandhar, the procurement has by and large been smooth at 137 purchase centres amid complaints of gunny bag shortage and late payments. District mandi officials said the issues farmers raised were being resolved immediately.

Tardy lifting in Hoshiarpur

In Hoshiarpur district, wheat arrival is gathering pace but the lifting is slow. Of the 66,573 metric tonnes wheat procured in the district by Monday, only 18,127 MT could be lifted. Payment is also tardy as only 9 per cent of due amount has been cleared so far. District food supply controller (DFSC) Rajnish Kaur said the lifting was affected due to rains. She said the payment got delayed due to some technical glitches but the problem is being resolved by the head office.

In Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, nearly 97% of wheat has been purchased of the total arrived in the grain markets, said deputy commissioner Shena Aggarwal. She said the procurement process got partially hit due to the bad weather. Farmers alleged shortage of gunny bags in Banga sub-division of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district. DFSC Rajesh Bhaskar said the problems faced in Banga have been resolved.

Principal secretary, food and civil supplies, KAP Sinha said, there was no shortage of gunny bales as Centre has allowed reuse of gunny bags. “We have made arrangement of 68,000 bales from arhtiyas for the second time use. There was a shortage of more than 10% bales, as we need total 5.24 lakh bales to procure 130 lakh tonnes wheat expected to come for procurement in the current season.”