Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday said elaborate arrangements have been made in the mandis across the state for mustard procurement starting from April 15 and wheat procurement starting from April 20. He said the number of procurement centers has also been increased substantially this procurement season for avoiding overcrowding in the mandis.
Responding to a query raised by media after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced extension of the nationwide lockdown period to May 3, Chautala said that to ensure social distancing, the number of farmers bringing their produce to mandis has been resticted. Also, the number of mustard procurement centers has been increased from 67 to about 140 and the number of wheat procurement centres from 477 to about 2,000 so that the farmers do not face any kind of problem while visiting the mandis for selling their produce.
The Deputy Chief Minister said there will be no shortage of essential commodities and strict action will be taken against those who indulge in black marketing and profiteering of these commodities. He said said more than 5,000 litres of country liquor has been seized in the last few days and cases have been registered.
Replying to a question, Chautala said production can be allowed in factories with 30 percent manpower. He said about 3 lakh workers are currently being taken care of in the State.