Punjab Cabinet hails Centre's decision on shrivelled wheat grains

Chandigarh, April 13 (IANS) The Punjab Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the Union government to accept the state's request to revisit the norms of shrivelled grains for ongoing procurement of wheat.

It also decided to appeal to the Centre to issue the order for relaxations in the norms at the earliest.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies, briefed the Cabinet about the status of the ongoing procurement. It was informed that 14.9 lakh metric tons of wheat had arrived in the mandis out of which more than 12 lakh metric tons had already been purchased.

More than two lakh metric tons, out of five lakh metric tons that arrived on Tuesday alone, had been purchased on the day of arrival itself, he said.

The spokesperson said while welcoming the early constitution of Central teams to assess the damage of shrivelled grains, the Cabinet also appealed to the Centre to allow relaxation in the norms of shrivelled grains without any value cut, since the farmer had already been penalised on account of lower yield.

A formal request in this regard had already been made by the state government, he added.

Owing to extreme heat conditions, the wheat grain has become shrivelled in many places and the grain coming in the mandis contains shrivelled grain beyond the permissible limit of six per cent.