The NDA Government at the Centre on Wednesday acceded to the request of Punjab Government to bear the value cut on wheat procurement and not make farmers suffer for the vagaries of weather. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday took a decision to bear the value cut. The decision came after the State Food Minister Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon held series of meetings with the Union Food Ministry.

“I was able to make a point that Punjab farmers should not be made to suffer for the unseasonal rains and hail storms and it is the moral duty of the Union Government to bear the loss of value cut, if any,” said Kairon in a statement. He said that he was able to convince that farmers, irrespective of damaged grains, should get the full minimum support price (MSP) of their crop as announced by the Centre earlier, and no value cut should be imposed on already distressed farmers of Punjab.

In a communiqué sent to the Punjab Food department, it was said that the “Centre would reimburse the amount of value cut imposed on the wheat being procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State Government Agencies in Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under relaxed quality norms”. The reimbursement of this amount would be made to the State Governments through the FCI, it added. State Governments have decided to bear the amount of value cut imposed on the wheat being procured from farmers by the FCI and State agencies under relaxed specifications in the current Rabi Marketing Season.