Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday review the ongoing operation of paddy procurement in the state by holding a high level meeting with the managing directors of the different procurement agencies.
Badal, during the meeting, expressed satisfaction over the pace of paddy procurement.
Till date 1,01,20,375 metric tonne of paddy has been procured in the State as against the previous year’s figure of 89,50,290 MT paddy on the same day, said an official spokesperson of the Government. Spokesperson said that Badal reiterated that every single grain of the crop would be lifted during the ongoing procurement operations across the state.
Chief Minister directed the procurement agencies to ensure that all the farmers must be made payment of their crop within 48 hours. He also directed the officers to ensure that the farmers must not face any hurdle during the procurement process and it must be executed in hassle free manner.
So far, the state has made payment of Rs 9,428 crores to the farmers for the procured paddy crop, said the spokesperson.
He said that out of the total 1,01,20,375 MT paddy procured, 98,47,124 (97.3 percent) MT was procured by the government agencies and 2,73,251 MT (2.7 percent) by private agencies.
The central Government agency, Food Corporation of India (FCI) procured 5,36,379 MT (5.3 percent) of paddy till date.
Meanwhile, Sangrur district is topping amongst all districts in paddy procurement and ludhiana is at second position.