33% wheat Punjab procured doesn’t meet specifications

› Nearly 115 lakh tonne is stored in covered and plinth (CAP) area with only tarpaulin sheets to protect the grain. The grain is likely to get damaged quickly.

STATE FOOD AND CIVIL SUPPLIES DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL

CHANDIGARH: Procured under relaxed specifications, at least 33% of a total of 127 lakh tonne wheat lifted in Punjab this rabi season is vulnerable to faster damage as the grain is either shriveled or has lost its lustre.

What is the bigger cause of worry for the state food and civil supplies department, state procurement agencies, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) as well as the storage agencies is the fact that most of this wheat, or URS grain as it is called, is stored in the open, making it even more vulnerable to the vagaries of weather.

Also, 33 lakh tonne URS wheat of the last year is stored in the state godowns, taking the total low-quality stored grain to 75 lakh tonne.

The movement of URS grain will be decided in a meeting scheduled on Wednesday. What can be seen as a relief for the state agencies is the fact that of the 75 lakh tonne URS wheat, 80% has less than 10% damage.

But the movement of foodgrain from Punjab that picked momentum in April has now come down to half.

Of the 260 lakh tonne grain stored in Punjab warehouses, 180 lakh tonne is -wheat and 80 lakh

tone is rice.

“Nearly 115 lakh tonne is stored in covered and plinth (CAP) area with only tarpaulin sheets to protect the grain. The grain is likely to get damaged quickly,” said an officer of state food and civil supplies department. With the grain storage space in the state full to the brim, the food and civil supplies department has nearly three months to move the stock to other states as paddy will start arriving after that kharif crop harvest.

“We want to move 75 lakh tonne URS grain out of our godowns on priority as it can’t be preserved for long. But the pace at which the grain is moving out is slow,” said another official.