Punjab Chief Minister of Captain Amarinder Singh today reviewed the progress of ongoing paddy procurement here and directed the Deputy Commissioner to ensure the payment to farmers within the stipulated time of 48 hours.Captain Amarinder also asked the DC to ensure lifting of crop within 72 hours.Presiding over a review meeting, the Chief Minister said that requisite basic amenities in all mandis of the districts should be made available to facilitate the farmers and no laxity in procurement operations would be tolerated. Reiterating his Government's resolve to procure every single grain of the farmers, Captain Amarinder said that the state government had taken all measures to ensure seamless paddy procurement. He also asked Deputy Commissioner to ensure the availability of adequate stock of gunny bags in all grain markets.The Chief Minister urged the farmers to bring only dry produce in Mandis to avoid problems or delays in selling their produce.Apprising the Chief Minister about the Paddy procurement, Deputy Commissioner Vipul Ujjwal said that 43,221 tonnes of paddy had arrived in the mandis of the district so far, of which 42,388 had been procured by different procurement agencies.
The Deputy Commissioner also informed Captain Amarinder Singh that the district administration would make all out efforts for timely procurement of the entire paddy crop. Emphasising the need of crop diversification in view of the prevailing agrarian crisis, Captain Amarinder also issued directions for smooth procurement of Maize, which he said could play a pivotal role as an alternate crop to break the conventional wheat and paddy cycle.The DC told the Chief Minister that two maize dryers were in operation in the district at villages Saila Khurd and Phuglana. He pointed out that the Hoshiarpur district has surpassed the last year's total procurement of 5.50 lac quintal with the arrival of 5.73 lac quintal maize across the various mandis in the district.Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting were Health Minister Brahm Mohindra, MLA Tanda Sangat Singh Giljian, Sham Chaurasi MLA Pawan Kumar Adia, Hoshiarpur MLA Sunder Sham Arora, Mukerian MLA Rajnish Kumar Babbi, Dasuya MLA Arun Kumar Dogra, Chabbewal MLA Dr. Raj Kumar, IG Police Arpit Shukla, SSP J. Elanchezhian and senior officers of various departments.