As the wheat procurement in Punjab crossed the figure of 10 Million Metric Tonne on Monday, Punjab Food and Supplies Minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon claimed that there was no issue with the release of Cash Credit limit and the remaining part of the CC limit for wheat procurement would be released by Central Government within a few days.
Replying a query on the issue of stoppage of CC limit by the centre, the minister said that it was released in the beginning of the procurement season for the month of April only, and it is a standard practice that the period of CC limit exhausts at the last day of April.
“The state gets it revived in May every year and this season also, we have already written to the Reserve Bank of India, for reviving the CC limit and being the first working day, it is expected to be cleared latest by Tuesday morning” said Kairon.
Clearing the air on the issue of payments to farmers, the minister said that all transactions of the department were electronically documented and all the payments were disbursed online. The payments were being delivered in the accounts of the farmers directly and the intervention of the state had been brought to a naught, and the CCl was being consumed to disburse the payment directly in the accounts of the producer.
The figures available with the department show that out of the total arrival, payments of 5409 crores had been made till April 30 since the CC limit was available. The data also show that the 78 percent wheat brought to mandis was procured by agencies before April 30, with 44 percent payment of the total procurement disbursed.
The authorities concerned said that approximately 90 percent of the expected arrival has already reached the grain markets, as 1.08 Crore tonne wheat is expected to arrive in markets this year. While the total procurement is expected to be less than the previous year, the quality of wheat is said to be quite good this year.
CC limit of 17523 crore was sanctioned for wheat procurement this season, and while the procurement is reaching closing stages, more than 50 percent payment is yet to be made, but taking note of the situation, the minister said that the remaining CCl was expected to be consumed faster as the pace of arrival was going to be slower in the coming days as most of the produce had already reached the mandis.
He said that now the payment process would pick up and payment to the farmers would be ensured within 48 hours.