Despite the lockdown and because of elaborate arrangements made by the State Government for wheat procurement, Haryana has recorded maximum procurement of wheat in northern India, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday.
Iinteracting with people during a TV programme, he said adhering to the social distancing norms, in three days that procurement began, 5.45 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Wheat was procured from 42,937 farmers in the Procurement Centres across the State.
He said till Tuesday, 289,140 tonnes of wheat was procured in Haryana while till the same day, 98,858 tonnes wheat was procured in Uttar Pradesh, 42,278 tonnes in Rajasthan and only 1198 tonnes in Uttarakhand. He said that apart from Haryana, Punjab which is the second State in contributing in the Centre’s pool, only 4,855 tonnes of wheat was purchased on the first day and 50,973 tonnes of wheat on the second day.
Khattar said in the initial phase of the corona crisis, he had promised the farmers that every single grain of their crops would be purchased and in the first two days of wheat procurement, that had been proved. He said that the price of wheat at the rate of Rs 1925 per quintal would be deposited without any delay in the accounts of farmers.
The Chief Minister said the State Government has increased the number of procurement centres by about five times and about 1831 wheat procurement centres and 163 mustard procurement centres have been set up. Apart from this, 4000 police personnel have also been deployed in these procurement centres.
He said adequate arrangements for the sanitization of every procurement centre, availability of masks have been made for every farmer and employees visiting these centres. Along with this hand sanitizer and thermal scanning have also been arranged in every procurement centre.
During the interaction, the Chief Minister also announced a life insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh for the farmers, Arhtiyas, labourers and government employees, whether regular or outsourcing, who are involved in procurement operations.
HARYANA IN A BETTER POSITION NOW, SAYS CM
In his address, Khattar applauded the efforts of Corona Warriors including doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, testing staff, class IV employees, and all those who come in direct contact with Covid-19 patients and said that compared to other states Haryana is in a better position which are affected by corona.
He said no single Corona case has been reported in three districts of the State and added that this has been made possible because of the multi-pronged strategies and strict compliance of lockdown norms.
Khattar said 614 tests have been conducted per 10 lakh people in the State, whereas this figure for the country stands at 289. There are total 264 cases of Covid-19 in Haryana out of which 158 people have recovered and discharged, only three fatalities have been reported, while there are 103 active cases in the State now.
The Chief Minister said that compared to other States and even with the country, Haryana is in a better position to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, pointing out that the recovery rate of the State is 59.84 percent. He said at the national level the number of corona infection patients is doubling every 7 days whereas in Haryana the number of patients is doubling in 14 days.
Khattar said from April 20, arrangements were made to open industrial and commercial units. Till Tuesday, permission for starting 1800 such units in the State was given and on Wednesday, permission to more than 100 units has been given so far.