Three Punjab ministers to meet Piyush Goyal over procurement, DBT standoff today

Three Punjab cabinet ministers will meet Union food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Thursday to resolve the standoff between the Centre and the state government over making land records mandatory for crop procurement and implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme

Three Punjab cabinet ministers will meet Union food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Thursday to resolve the standoff between the Centre and the state government over making land records mandatory for crop procurement and implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

Three Punjab ministers to meet Piyush Goyal over procurement, DBT standoff today

State ministers Manpreet Singh Badal (finance), Bharat Bhushan Ashu (food and civil supplies) and Vijay Inder Singla (public works) along with Punjab Mandi Board chairman Lal Singh will also take up the issues of recovery of incidentals and demand for 3% rural development fund (RDF) for procurement in the previous kharif season.

The state government claims RDF as its right, saying it is an important source of income for carrying out development works in rural areas.

Punjab’s four procurement agencies led by the state food and civil supplies department have made arrangements for procuring 130 lakh tonne wheat by setting up 3,700 mandis to adhere to Covid-19 protocol of social distancing.

The meeting is crucial particularly when the farmers from Punjab and other states are staging protests at the Delhi border seeking repeal of the Centre’s three agriculture laws.

The Centre wants arhtiyas (commission agents) to be out of the procurement scene by depositing crop directly into the accounts of farmers through the public finance management system.

On the other hand, the state government says arhtiyas play a pivotal role in the procurement process by charging 2% dami on the crop sale.

“Procurement in Punjab can’t take place in the absence of arthiyas as they support the mandi operations by cleaning, weighing, filling, loading and unloading of crop,” said a food and civil supplies department official.

“We got the appointment with the Union minister after several requests. We hope to resolve all the issues,” said Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

On Wednesday, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh held a virtual meeting with the arhtiya association, Ashu and officials of the food and civil supplies department.

The arhtiyas announced that they will shut the mandis operations from April 10 as a mark of protest if their issues were not resolved. “We will not let weighing and loading of the wheat crop in case the Centre is adamant to go ahead with DBT,” said VK Kalra, president of an arhtiyas association.