Easing the anxiety of the Punjab farmers, the Punjab government today released Rs. 2612.50 crore for payment for procured wheat during the current Rabi Marketing Season.Disclosing this, the state Food and Civil Supply Minister, Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon said that all transactions have been electronically documented and payments disbursed. The Minister also said that from today on wards, the transactions would be done regularly and the pending payments would also be cleared within two days.Reviewing the ongoing procurement operations in the state, the Minister said that 66.55 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of wheat has so far been procured in the state. The government agencies procured 65.62 lakh MT while the private traders could procure 9.33 Lakh MT till last evening.
The Minister Reiterating his firm commitment over the swift wheat procurement, said that every single grain of the crop would be lifted during the current procurement operations across the state and wherever there was tardy movement of lifting in few mandis, the Minister has directed the procurement agencies to pull up their socks to ensure hassle free the operations. The Minister assured the farmers that with the receipt of the cash credit limit (CCL) from the RBI, farmers would be the paid for their crop within 48 hours.Meanwhile, Mr. Kairon said that he was in constant touch with all the heads of the procurement agencies to ensure prompt lifting and timely payment to the farmers. Giving agency wise procurement details, the Minister said Pungrain procured 13.15 LMT (19.8%)), Markfed procured 13.83 LMT, (20.8%) Punsup could procure 12.29 LMT (18.5%), PSWC 9.66(14.5%) LMT and FCI procured 9.99 LMT (15.0%).