Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ruled out exclusion of arhtiyas (commission agents) from the procurement process. At the same time, he assured them of the State Government’s full support in the smooth implementation of Public Financial Management System (PFMS) in the state, as mandated by the Centre.
Capt Amarinder, addressing a function organised by the Federation of Arhtiyas, made it clear that no amendment would be made to the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Act to exclude the arhtiyas from the procurement of wheat and paddy for the central pool.
The State Government will continue to make payments to the farmers through the arhtiyas, with whom the farmers had age-old ties, he assured.
Capt Amarinder expressed satisfaction at the decision of the arhtiyas to adopt the PFMS system, because of the non-implementation of which the Central Government had withheld Rs 1,000 crores in payments due to the State Government.
The cash-strapped state could ill-afford any delay in the release of this amount, which includes reimbursement of Rs 500 crore already paid to the arhtiyas, he added.
The Chief Minister directed the State Procurement Agencies and Mandi Board to train the arhtiyas on use of the PFMS software, and to assist them in uploading the Bank account details of the farmers and link them with Arhtiya Bank Accounts on PFMS.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to ensure hassle-free procurement of food grains, Capt Amarinder said that both the farmers and the arhtiyas had benefitted immensely as a result of the check on the corrupt practices that had prevailed in the procurement operations during the Akali regime.
Pointing out that the Cash Credit Limit which used to come at the fag end of the procurement season during the Akali rule had been arranged much before the start of procurement ever since his Government took over, the Chief Minister said that the support of the arhtiyas had helped in ensuring timely payments and lifting of foodgrain.
“In the last five procurement seasons, the farmers had earned more than Rs 1.24 lakh crore against the sale of wheat and paddy crops, while during the last corresponding periods of the Akali Government, the farmers earned only Rs 94,200 crore. This has resulted in a whopping 32 percent increase in the farmers’ earnings since the Congress Government came to power,” Capt Amarinder pointed out.
He added that the commission agents had earned nearly Rs 3100 crore as commission since his Government took over while the Akali Government had paid only Rs 2356 crore for the same period, which translated into an increase of about 32 percent.