104 lakh MT paddy procured in Punjab, 52 lakh MT in Haryana

Chandigarh, Oct 29 (IANS) More than 105 lakh metric tonnes (MT) paddy arrived in marketing yards in Punjab, out of which 104 lakh MT paddy was procured till Saturday.

In neighbouring Haryana, a record 52 lakh MT paddy has been procured and Rs 10,000 crore paid to farmers.

Punjab Food Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said timely purchase, payment and lifting is going on smoothly in each 'mandi'. All arrangements of 'bardana', labour and transportation have been made.

As of now, the marketing yards are witnessing an arrival of nearly 7.5 lakh MT in a day, and almost all paddy is purchased by the end of the day.

About the minimum support price (MSP) payment, Kataruchak said nearly Rs 15,400 crore has been released directly into the accounts of farmers and another Rs 2,000 crore has been approved and would be released on Monday.

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said the government had set a target of making payment to the farmers in just 48 hours.

Chairing a review meeting here, Chautala directed the officers to submit a report regarding the compensation of the crops damaged by the recent heavy rains so that the farmers could get their compensation at the earliest.

He said 46 lakh MT paddy was procured till this date last year, whereas this time 52,47,111 MT paddy has been procured, which is 13 per cent more.

In Kurukshetra, Karnal and Kaithal districts, there has been more procurement than normal, he said.

Regarding procurement of bajra, Chautala said 81,313 MT has been procured by HAFED at the MSP. The highest purchase of 22,223 MT was done in Bhiwani. Similarly, 15,710.45 MT has been procured in Jhajjar and 14,757 MT in Mahendragarh.

The procurement of groundnut will start on November 1. For this, seven marketing yards have been set up in Fatehabad, Hisar and Sirsa districts. The groundnut would be procured at Rs 5,850 per quintal.