Wheat purchase in Punjab resumed on Tuesday after a brief halt by state procurement agencies’ staff, who had suspended operations on Sunday alleging political pressure to buy the freshly harvested crop with high moisture content, ignoring prescribed quality standards.
Employees of Pungrain, Punsup, Markfed and the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) had stalled procurement, stating they are accountable for maintaining grain quality before handing it over to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which distributes foodgrains to consumer states.
Following discussions with the state food and civil supplies department, procurement staff returned to work with the understanding that only wheat meeting the prescribed quality norms will be procured at the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,585 per quintal. Procurement of damaged wheat is yet to begin, pending relaxation from the Centre.
Officials said teams from the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution have been assessing crop quality in Punjab over the past three days. “The assessment is almost complete and a report is expected soon, after which damaged wheat stocks may also be procured,” said a department official.
“We have started procurement operations as the state food department has agreed that wheat lots falling under the prescribed norms will only be procured until relaxations are allowed by the Centre,” said Vinay Kumar, member of the joint coordination of the state procurement agencies, Punjab, and president of the PSWC field staff.
{{/usCountry}}“We have started procurement operations as the state food department has agreed that wheat lots falling under the prescribed norms will only be procured until relaxations are allowed by the Centre,” said Vinay Kumar, member of the joint coordination of the state procurement agencies, Punjab, and president of the PSWC field staff.
{{/usCountry}}Procurement for the rabi marketing season began on April 1, with 1,872 mandis opened across the state. However, arrivals have been slower than usual, with about 2.75 lakh tonnes reaching mandis so far, largely due to delayed harvesting caused by untimely rainfall during the crop’s maturity stage.
Farmers have expressed concern over the piling up of unsold stocks. Gurbakshish Singh, a farmer from Bhawanigarh in Patiala district, warned of a glut-like situation if procurement does not pick up soon, noting that large quantities of wheat are already lying unattended in mandis.
Under FCI norms, wheat with moisture content up to 12%, shrivelled and broken grain up to 6% and slightly damaged grain up to 4% qualifies for procurement at full MSP. However, the current crop arriving in mandis reportedly has moisture levels as high as 22%, along with higher levels of shrinkage and loss of lustre.
Procurement agency staff reiterated that purchasing substandard grain without official relaxation could expose them to accountability issues at later stages.
Jasbir Singh Rakkar, a Markfed employee, cautioned that if procurement of damaged grain is not permitted soon, managing the expected surge in arrivals in the coming days would become difficult as rising temperatures accelerate harvesting across the state.