Punjab mulls use of rice mills’ premises for wheat procurement

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government is considering a proposal to use the premises of 4,000-plus rice mills in the state, besides already established 158 mandis and 1,832 procurement centres, for wheat procurement to make it a staggered affair in view of the curbs imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19 outbreak.

Also, in order to maintain social distancing and prevent large gatherings of farmers, labour and all others involved in procurement, the government has decided to ask the farmers to bring produce to mandis turn-wise.

‘HAVE ROPED IN ARHTIYAS ‘

“We have roped in arhtiyas (commission agents) who would coordinate with the farmers attached to them and call them by turns,” said additional chief secretary agriculture Viswajeet Khanna, adding that arhtiyas would issue tokens to the farmers in this regard.

Khanna added that all other issues concerning procurement would be thrashed out in a few days. “Rice mills could be used for procurement operations provided we are able to arrange infrastructure and manpower,” he said.

There are at least 13 lakh wheat growers in the state who are attached to 22,600 arhtiyas for disbursal of cost of produce – minimum support price (MSP) and their day-to-day needs.

“One arhtiya has 25 to 400 farmers attached with him, and we have told all of them to get ready to ensure hassle-free operation,” said state president of state arhtiya association Vijay Kalra.

He said his association has provided details to the government about number of farmers attached to each arhtiya, their addresses, nearby mandis and how much payment was made for wheat crop in the last rabi season.

“I think all the information will help the government to make better planning.”

READY WITH ALL LOGISTICS: MINISTER

Food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, “We are ready with all logistics such as gunny bags, crates, tarpaulin and cash credit limit (CCL) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for making payment to the farmers and transporters.”

GOVT ALSO DECIDES TO ASK FARMERS TO BRING PRODUCE TO MANDIS TURN-WISE