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Punjab: Mandi board winds up paddy procurement at 1,559 centres, upset farmers threaten protest
Farmer bodies said the move would badly hit the growers as a lot of produce is yet to reach mandis owing to delayed harvesting. The Punjab Mandi Board had started the procurement operations at 1,870 grain markets and procurement centres. At least 1,559 grain markets and procurement centres across Punjab have stopped purchasing paddy, leaving farmers worried.
At least 1,559 grain markets and procurement centres across the state have stopped purchasing paddy, leaving farmers worried.
Farmer bodies said the move would badly hit the growers as a lot of produce is yet to reach mandis owing to delayed harvesting. The Punjab Mandi Board had started the procurement operations at 1,870 grain markets and procurement centres.
Mandi board chairman Harchand Singh Barsat confirmed the winding up of operations at 1,559 centres. The procurement is on at the remaining centres, said officials.
Farmer unions demanded that the state government should continue paddy procurement operations at all centres till November 20. “Farmers – who had to re-sown paddy – are yet to harvest it. The rainfall on November 10 and 11 had further delayed the harvest,” said Sher Singh Sidhuwal, president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) Bhateri Kalan. “Either the government should re-start the operations or we will hold protests,” he added.
Mandi board officials said they had stopped the operations on the recommendation of the department of food and civil supplies. They said around 2.91 lakh metric tonnes of paddy arrived in grain markets across the state on Tuesday – which was 18 % higher than the paddy arrival on the corresponding day in 2022. So far, around 170 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has already arrived in the grain markets. This year, the government had estimated an arrival of 182 lakh metric tonnes.
On his part, mandi board chairman Barsat said he would request chief minister Bhagwant Mann to extend the paddy procurement operations in the grain markets till November 20. “Many farmers had to re-sow the crop due to floods in the state. It has resulted in delay in harvesting. I will take up the matter with the CM,” he added.
