Chandigarh, August 16
Punjab is saddled with huge wheat stocks. It is estimated that the combined stock with the state’s five procurement agencies is of the order of over 165 lakh tonnes, excluding the one with the Food Corporation of India, (FCI).
The value of this wheat is approximately Rs 16,000 crore, excluding the interest payable on the food credit taken by Punjab from banks, post-procurement costs and other charges the agencies have to pay per annum.
The FCI, on its part, reimburses the money spent by the agencies at its own leisurely pace. The amount due to Punjab, according to one estimate, is over Rs 200 crore. Even the outgo of foodgrain from Punjab is pretty slow. The client states are reluctant to accept the foodgrain. Since most of the wheat is stored in the open, damage and pilferage are common. Experts have already warned that the wheat procured in 2000-01 will not be fit for longer storage. Its disposal becomes imperative because most of it comprises rain-soaked grains which have lost their lustre.
The state agencies caught in this snarl are the Food Department, Markfed, Punsup, the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and the Punjab Agro-industries Corporation.
The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has a cordial political equation with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Whenever Punjab has faced farm crises — changing the date of procurement, remunerative minimum support price, specifications for paddy purchase, condoning of the loss of moisture or lustre in respect of paddy and wheat, movement outside Punjab, threat of the WTO etc.— it is Mr Vajpayee who has lent a helping hand, asking the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Shanta Kumar, to relent and help.
In fact, it was at the initiative of Mr Badal that the Chief Ministers of two agriculturally rich and surplus states, Haryana (Mr Om Parkash Chautala) and Andhra Pradesh (Mr Chandrababu Naidu) jointly signed a petition to the Prime Minister on August 9, seeking a raise of Rs 50 per quintal in the minimum support price for paddy for 2001-02 over that of last year and demanding that it should be finalised in consultation with the states. They also said the FCI should share procurement responsibilities. Second, the Centre should frame a bold storage construction plan and the FCI undertake a guarantee to hire the facilities for 10 years at a remunerative rate. Last, paddy purchase should be effective from September 1.
But despite the best of efforts of the Chief Minister and intentions of the Prime Minister, Punjab today is in serious trouble. There is a growing feeling that the NDA government, headed by the BJP, should evolve a long-term perspective plan to take care of the
special problems that beset agriculturally advanced states rather than punishing them for being ‘’surplus’’, a relative term, as the Chief Ministers describe the situation.
Informed sources today told TNS that Mr Badal, accompanied by his Ministers of Food and Supplies, Cooperation and Agriculture and the Financial Commissioners concerned, should lead a delegation to the Prime Minister to apprise him of the ‘’gravity’’ of the situation of huge stocks of unlifted foodgrain in the state and impress upon him that an “ad-hoc approach” will not last long.
The cash-starved state is already facing several other problems. With production reaching a plateau, there is an economic slowdown. Unless a regular flow of money due from New Delhi (FCI, etc) is maintained, Punjab will find it difficult to raise money from the financial institutions to buy foodgrains. Punjab has exhausted its food credit limit. The RBI is reluctant to raise the limit.
With paddy procurement at the doorstep, financial requirements become urgent as does the need for space for the storage of the fresh harvest. With the FCI launching procurement operations in some other states as well, Punjab will further suffer, it is widely feared.
Storage methods are unscientific. Often stocks deteriorate resulting in losses, particularly to the state procurement agencies, while needy people remain hungry. Unless the public distribution system is streamlined and clogged channels opened, the stocks will continue to pile up.
