Punjab plans staggered paddy procurement

CHANDIGARH:WITH no signs of end to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Punjab food and civil supplies department has decided to procure paddy in a staggered manner as it did during the rabi season that ended in June.

But the department is wary of using the rice mills as storage points fearing misappropriation of the stock and mixing of recycled rice with freshly shelled grain.

“Paddy poses a bigger challenge because the volume of the kharif crop is at least one-third more than wheat. Also, paddy arrives faster in the mandis (grain markets). An average 120 lakh tonnes of wheat arrives in mandis against 180 lakh tonne paddy,” an additional directorrank official said.