Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has reiterated his demand for the implementation of the ‘principle of shared responsibilities’ by the Centre to settle the Rs. 31000 crore CCL gap amount that had been converted by the union government into Long Term Loan.The CCL gap cannot be solely attributed to the State of Punjab, the Chief Minister has said, in separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan.The gap, that had arisen due to systemic and structural reasons, should be addressed through the ‘principle of shared responsibilities’ amongst the stakeholders in the procurement process of foodgrains in Punjab, the Chief Minister has stated in his letters, pointing out that he had raised this issue even earlier.After his letter of January 15, 2018, a meeting on the matter was held at the level of Secretary Expenditure, Government of India, on February 20, 2018, in which representatives of the Department of Banking, Department of Food & Public Distribution, GoI, and the Government of Punjab had participated, the Chief Minister recalled.However, no decision has yet been taken, he added, urging the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter to operationalize the suggested principle of shared responsibilities amongst the Government of India, the Government of Punjab and the consortium of banks.Meanwhile, in separate letters to Paswan, the Chief Minister has raised the issue of release of the pending VAT payment, as well as non-reimbursement of actual expenditure on procurement of gunny bags, to the State Procurement Agencies.
Captain Amarimder Singh has drawn the minister’s attention to his earlier communication of March 26, 2018, regarding reimbursement of VAT amounting to Rs.952 crore to the State Procurement Agencies.Although, the Food Corporation of India has admitted that the amount of VAT paid by the State Procurement Agencies is to be reimbursed, no further progress has yet been reported, he observed, adding that as a result of delay in release of this amount, the State Procurement Agencies had to borrow to fill the gap for timely authorization of CCL for the current Rabi Marketing Season.The letter further said that the FCI and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution evidently could not release the requisite amount due to non-availability of funds during the previous year. However, the funds are available now and, therefore, reimbursement of VAT paid by the State Procurement Agencies should be expedited, the Chief Minister has requested.On the issue of the Gunny bags, the Chief Minister said though the price and payment schedule of the bags, procured as per supply plan approved by the Department of Food and Public Distribution through Jute Commissioner of India, is finalized in accordance with the directions of the Ministry, the actual cost incurred on their procurement, including basic cost, interest, handling and transportation cost, is not reimbursed to the State Procurement Agencies.
In fact, the cost of gunny bags is paid out of the funds borrowed from banks as short term loan, which is repaid by FCI against delivery of food grains. Non-reimbursement of actual expenditure on gunny bags results in huge gap in Cash Credit Limit, causing unnecessary burden on State finances, the Chief Minister has pointed out.In this context, he has urged the Ministry and the FCI to reimburse the actual cost of gunny bags to the State as these are purchased for food grains procured on behalf of the Government of India.The wheat procurement season is currently in full swing in Punjab, with 44.63 Lakh MT have been purchased in the Mandis till April 19. On Thursday alone, 10 Lakh MT arrived in Mandis but the total unsold by the end of the day was only 4.75 Lakh MT, indicating that more than 5 Lakh MT was cleaned and purchased the same day, according to an official spokesperson. Patiala and Sangrur have crossed days lifting of 50000 MT each today, while Bhatinda crossed 40000 MT.Further, the spokesperson said timely payments were made being to the farmers against the purchase of wheat, with the Chief Minister having issued strict instructions on this count. As of this afternoon, Rs. 3456 Crore had been transferred against the wheat purchase done so far in the state’s Mandis.