Unseasonal Rains And Hails Had Badly Affected Quality Of Wheat In Punjab

Chandigarh, April 20, 2015:   Unseasonal rains and hails witnessed during  previous months in various districts of Punjab had badly affected  quality of wheat as result of which farmers had to  face  problem in selling their produce due to non- conformity of wheat as per specifications fixed by GoI . Keeping in view the plight of the farmers, Adaish Partap Singh Kairon Food, Civil Supplies Minister Punjab a few days back had requested GoI to start taking a action for giving immediate relaxation in specifications days back. Conceding to the request of Kairon, as per the instructions of GoI dated April 19, 2015, FCI and Punjab Government were jointly asked to draw samples of wheat from mandis of all districts of Punjab. As per the orders of Kairon, Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Punjab along with FCI took joint samples on April 19, 2015 itself and got the analysis report sent through FCI to GoI today.  Based on this analysis, Government of Punjab has also recommended to GoI today to give maximum required relaxation on all the refractions of specifications.

Kairon has also got time for meeting from Union Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan for getting relaxation in specifications. Kairon is hopeful getting required relaxation within a day or so. Kairon has reiterated his request GoI for giving relaxation in specifications without imposing any value cut on payment of MSP to farmers. Kairon has vehemently reasoned that farmers of Punjab have already suffered huge financial loss due to decrease in yield of wheat. Farmers, therefore, are not capable of facing any kind of value cut on wheat. It has also conveyed to GoI that rain affected wheat does not give storage gain as per norms fixed by GoI. State Government cannot give the required storage gain. Hence, the state government has requested GoI for giving relaxation on storage gain also. Assuring farmers of Punjab that every grain of theirs will be procured, Sh. Kairon has  requested them to bring their produce in mandis  after getting it dried so that in can be purchased without any hassle. Kairon has started that the problem of Labour and Transportation tenders which was reported in some districts has also been resolved. Labour and Transporters who had not started their work in some mandis earlier would start their regular work from tomorrow onward in such mandis.