‘UP has purchased 22L MT wheat from farmers so far, paid ₹2933.34 crore’

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has purchased around 22 lakh MT wheat from farmers so far amid spread of Covid-19 to rural areas

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has purchased around 22 lakh MT wheat from farmers so far amid spread of Covid-19 to rural areas. This is nearly double the wheat procured during the corresponding period last year.

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“We have purchased 21.45 lakh MT wheat from 4,20,948 farmers and have already paid ₹2933.34 crore to them while ₹4237.50 crore will be credited to their accounts very soon,” said commissioner, food and civil supplies, Manish Chauhan.

“The government procured 12.11 lakh MT wheat during the corresponding period previous year,” he pointed out. The Centre has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat at ₹1975 per quintal for the current procurement season.

For the first time, the state government fixed no wheat purchase target this year, deciding to purchase all the wheat brought to the purchase centeres during the procurement season. “The target was not fixed but we expect to purchase around 50-55 lakh MT wheat by the end of the procurement season in mid-June and funds are being arranged for the same,” another official revealed.

He said the wheat purchase progress was quite satisfactory despite the challenges posed by the deadly second Covid wave in the state. “We are taking all the precautions for farmers as well as the staff at the procurement centres,” the official claimed.

The state government has installed electronic point of sale (EPoS) machines at all the 6,000 procurement centres that have been set up across the state to buy wheat from farmers, to do away with complaints related to weighing.