Storage crunch: Centre allows Punjab to shift 12 lakh tonnes of old rice to UP

PROBLEM OF PLENTY Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan says Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have storage space for food grains and grains from Punjab can be kept there

NEW DELHI: Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday said that the government has allowed Punjab, which is facing a storage problem ahead of wheat procurement next month, to shift 12 lakh tonnes of surplus rice to Uttar Pradesh.

Labourers stacking bags of wheat in an open godown in Patiala. (Bharat Bhushan/HT file)

Punjab food minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who met Paswan in the national capital here, sought the central government’s intervention to address the storage problem in the state.

“There is a storage issue in Punjab. The state still has a rice stock of 38 lakh tonnes from the 2018-19 crop year. We have given directions for evacuating about 12 lakh tonnes of the stock to Uttar Pradesh,” Paswan said after the meeting.

He said Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have storage space for food grains and grains from Punjab can be kept there.

Harvested wheat and paddy shelled two years ago is still in the state’s godowns. The foodgrains are stored in open plinths, covered godowns and silos.

Wheat harvesting will begin from next month and the state is expecting a bumper crop with a total arrival of about 135 lakh tonnes of wheat.