CENTRE SANCTIONS RS.29,695.40 CR OF CCL FOR PUNJAB’S PADDY PROCUREMENT IN OCTOBER

BALANCE RS.10,604.60 TO BE RELEASED NEXT MONTH, CM DIRECTS TIMELY PROCUREMENT & PAYMENT Chandigarh, October 9, 2018: Following Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s personal intervention, the Centre on Tuesday sanctioned Cash Credit Limit (CCL) amount of Rs.29,695.40 crore, of the total Rs.40,300 crore required by the state for procurement of paddy in the Kharif marketing season 2018-19. Disclosing this here, an official spokesperson said the amount has been released by the RBI for procurement of paddy till October. The balance instalment of Rs.10,604.60 would be released subsequently. The Chief Minister, it may be noted, had been persistently pursuing the issue of early release of CCL to ensure timely payment to farmers against their crop. Captain Amarinder has, meanwhile, directed all the state procurement agencies to take immediate steps to ensure prompt lifting of the produce, followed by timely release of payments to farmers. He has reiterated his government’s commitment to facilitating smooth and hassle-free procurement in the Mandis across the state. The State Government has already made elaborate arrangements for procurement of the estimated 200 lakh LMT paddy expected to come to the Mandis this season. The Chief Minister has issued strict instructions to lift every single grain of the farmers’ produce from the market and adhere to the prescribed norms of timely payment. During the previous KMS 2017-18, a total of 179.34 LMT paddy was procured, of which 176.61 LMT paddy was procured by Government agencies, while traders/millers procured only 2.73 LMT. During KMS 2018-19, State Agencies will procure 190.00 LMT paddy and FCI will procure 10 LMT paddy. Punjab Vigilance to keep close watch on paddy procurement in mandis: BK Uppal The Punjab Vigilance Bureau, on the instructions of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, will keep close watch by surprise checking of grain markets across the state during the ongoing paddy procurement to ensure that farmers did not face any difficulty in selling their crops. After a special meeting held here today with senior officers at Vigilance Bureau (VB) headquarters, Chief Director BK Uppal informed that instructions have been issued to all the SSPs of various VB ranges and other officials to keep tab on the grain markets and conduct surprise checking regarding paddy purchase arrangements and get feedback from farmers and arhtiyas. He added that special teams would be constituted comprising officials of food and civil supplies department, procurement agencies and civil administration to conduct these inspections. Elaborating the motive behind the observation drive he informed that Vigilance Bureau would ensure that farmers should not be harassed or exploited during the purchase of paddy either by officials of procurement agencies or by commission agents through corrupt practices. Uppal assured the farmers that Bureau has been fully committed to safeguard their interests and corruption at any level in the procurement process would not be spared. He said the teams have been also instructed to give a transparent report in case they found any irregularity in the weighing, quality control, purchase, payment and lifting process or lack of basic facilities. In addition to this, allotment of mandis/shellers and transportation of paddy to warehouses/millers would also be under scanner to explore and expose any nexus between procurement agencies and arhtiyas. Vigilance chief said strict action would be initiated against the erring officials if any discrepancy was found to the bureau during the drive. He appealed the people to report corruption by the public servants at Vigilance Bureau’s toll free number 1800 1800 1000 without any hesitation. PUNJAB GOVT. MAKES ITS EMPLOYEES ACCOUNTABLE TO CHECK STUBBLE BURNING To elicit maximum participation of Government officials in the ongoing anti-stubble burning campaign, the Punjab Government has issued detailed instructions to the entire staff of departments/boards/corporations and cooperative societies thereby making them accountable for burning any paddy straw on the farms owned or cultivated by them . State Nodal Officer of anti-stubble burning campaign K.S. Pannu informed that Punjab govt has issued instructions to all departments that in addition to ensuring that they themselves donot indulge in straw burning these employees have also been directed to create awareness amongst the farmers about the ill-effects of stubble burning causing irreversible damage to nature, environment and human health. He further said that in case any employee fails to comply with these directions then disciplinary proceedings would be initiated against such delinquent employees. These officials have also been mandated to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities about any incident of stubble burning across the state. Notably, the state government has already embarked upon a massive programme for management of paddy straw, without burning, by the farmers. As many as 24315 subidized agro-machines/equipments are being supplied to the farmers, Cooperative Societies and Custom Hiring Centres to achieve zero burning of paddy straw. About 8000 village level nodal officers have been deputed to create awareness against stubble burning amongst farmers. Paddy is grown on 65 lac acres of land in Punjab. After harvesting paddy, about 20 million tonnes of paddy straw is left in the fields to be managed by farmers before sowing the next Rabi crops. It is estimated that 15 million tonnes of paddy straw is burnt by farmers for early and easy clearance of the fields. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had recently written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking Rs. 100 per quintal as compensation only for those farmers who abstain from burning paddy residue under the state government’s ambitious programme for management of paddy straw.