Union Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister KV Thomas on Tuesday assured Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon that his Ministry would announce relaxation in the specifications of paddy procurement by Thursday.
Kairon, who met the Union Minister in his office at Krishi Bhawan, sought his personal intervention to immediately announce these exemptions. Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister apprised Thomas that the Central teams sent by his ministry had visited various mandis across the state last week to assess the damage caused to paddy in terms of discoloration and moisture content due to inclement weather lashed by unseasonal and unprecedented rains and hailstorm in September last and thus collected samples to further examine and subsequently recommend relaxations in these specifications.
Kairon impressed upon him to announce these relaxations forthwith so as enable the government agencies to procure paddy quickly in a prompt and hassle free manner as factors like discoloration and moisture content were proving to be a major hurdle in the way smooth paddy procurement. The Minister asked to direct the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure its allotted quota of 10 per cent whereas it has so far hardly procured four to five per cent much to the dismay of farmers.
Kairon also took up the matter with the Union Minister for creating adequate space for the storage of paddy with concerned quarters besides arranging requisite racks for transporting the grains with the Railways Ministry as both these issues were crucial for speeding up the paddy procurement from Punjab, so as to facilitate the farmers as well as procurement agencies involved in these gigantic operations.
Responding to various issues, the Union Minister reiterated that the Ministry would certainly announce relaxations in prescribed parameters of paddy procurement within next 48 hours. Thomas also assured that FCI authorities would be directed to ensure lifting of its allotted quota of paddy besides taking a sympathetic view of resolving other issues raised by Kairon with the Ministry of Railways in a holistic manner.