The State Government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is leaving no stone unturned to address the core issue of storage space as it is intricately connected with the procurement operations in the State.
The Chief Minister has met and apprised the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi at regular intervals about the adequate storage space issue in Punjab, said the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak here today during a meeting.
The Minister further articulated that the State Government always has the interests of all the stakeholders associated with the procurement process at heart and there would be no let up in taking up the issue again with the Union Government.
The Minister further stated that at present the State has storage space of 181 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) but the amount of foodgrains stored stands at 190 LMT which is 105 percent of the entire storage space. The previous stock of rice lying with the State is 37.76 LMT while the wheat stock stands at 40 LMT.
The State needs to move out atleast 10 LMT of rice and same amount of wheat each month for the situation to stabilize particularly when the next 4 months are very crucial, added Mr. Kataruchak. He also reiterated that as Punjab is an agrarian State predominantly hence every matter related to farming sector is of vital importance to the State Government.
Among others present on the occasion included the Principal Secretary Rahul Tiwari, Additional Secretary Kamal Kumar Garg, Additional Directors Dr. Anjuman Bhaska & Ajayveer Singh Sarao, and GM (Finance) Sarvesh Kumar.