M A I N   N E W S

A TRIBUNE SURVEY
Wheat arrivals dip as stocks pile up in markets
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 4
While wheat arrivals have started receding in Punjab, stocks of procured golden grains have started piling up in the grain markets because of slow lifting.

A Tribune survey conducted in various grain markets of Punjab reveals that while procured wheat is being regularly lifted, some stocks have piled up because of either a shortage of labour or storage space.

In Sangrur, for example, there is an acute shortage of labour while in Amritsar, the market committee has threatened to levy storage charges on stocks not cleared within 48 hours of procurement.

Sources in the Food and Supplies Department maintain that because of a sharp fall in the arrival of wheat in the markets, the problem of lifting did not become acute. Reports suggest that arrivals in various markets have been 10 to 20 per cent less compared to the same period last year.

In many areas, many procurement centres have been closed because of no fresh arrivals. Though officials maintain that procurement centres would remain operational till the last grain is taken, most of the centres would close by the end of next week.

The problem of slow lifting was more acute in border districts and also in some parts of the Malwa belt.

AMRITSAR: Even as the arrival of wheat in mandis here was almost 20 per cent less than that in the corresponding period last year, inadequate arrangements for protecting the golden grains, coupled with slower lifting, have been causing inconvenience to farmers and ‘arhtiyas’ of this border district.

Mr Paramjit Singh, secretary, Market Committee, said he had sent notice to three government agencies — the FCI, PUNSUP and Markfed — to speed up the lifting failing which a surcharge of 25 paise per bag per day would be levied. Almost half of the procured wheat has been lying in the open in spite of the notice issued under the Mandi Board byelaws.

Mr Hardeep Singh, a farmer from Jagdev Kalan, says “rain could spoil the wheat stock stacked in the mandi. It could discolour grains, enhance moisture content and dip the quality of grain even before its procurement.”

The yield this year has suffered mainly due to the ‘tela’ insect which led to thinner grains. Meanwhile, a tussle among various transporters has been responsible for the frequent blockage of grain markets, putting the farmers in a piquant position.

BATHINDA: Except for Bhucho Mandi which suffered an initial problem of accumulation of procured wheat stocks, it has been smooth sailing in the district here. The problem at Bhucho was sorted out by the SDM.

Different mandis in the district had received 4,77,951 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat till May 1 out of which 4,75,283 mt was purchased by different agencies. Private traders purchased only 1, 188 Mt of the total arrivals in different mandis.

So far 64 per cent of the procured wheat has been lifted from the mandis. The payment for 72 per cent of the wheat procured so far had been made. the authorities said that about 85 per cent of the total wheat expected to be produced this year has already arrived in the mandis.

JALANDHAR: There appears to be no problem about the lifting of wheat stocks from grain markets of the Doaba region. Almost 65 to 70 per cent of the wheat in most mandis in Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar has been lifted. A tour of Balachaur, Nawanshahr, Garhshankar, Hoshiarpur and Adampur revealed that procurement had been going on smoothly. The average lifting time after purchase of the crop varied between 24 and 48 hours while in the past, it was between 48 hours and five days. A major reason for the smooth operations, they say, is lesser arrivals this time compared to last year.

LUDHIANA: Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, Warehousing Corporation, Punjab Agro and traders purchased 36382.2 MT of wheat in the grain market of Jagraon whereas various state agencies have purchased 83601.7 MT at other 15 purchase subcenters attached to the market and cover Kaunke Kalan, Roomi, Akhara, Pabbian, Hanskalan, Dalla, Sidhwan Kalan, Bujkar, Barsal, Galib Kalan, Chachrari, Kamalpura, Rasulpura, Malak and Bhammipura.

Wheat arrivals in all surrounding subcentres are almost over. The lifting process is in full swing but the recent hailstorm and rain have damaged the crop.

MACHHIWARA: Wheat arrivals may decline by 13 per cent compared to past years. The total arrival last year was 7,57,396 quintals. The market committee authorities expect a little more.

Due to a recent hailstorm, a yield of 8-10 quintals per acre has been recorded, whereas in the rest of the area, the yield has been 17 quintals per acre. Distressed arhtiyas maintain that previously they had to bear a considerable loss due to the attachment of Koomkalan Mandi with Sahnewal Market Committee by separating it from Machhiwara.

The market committee was unable to provide basic facilities like drinking water and cleanliness. So much so, it would not get the Kisan Vishram Ghar repaired, which is in a very bad shape for the past many years.

AHMEDGARH: According to Mr Gurcharan Singh Dhaliwal, secretary, local market committee, only 40804 MT wheat was purchased till May 1 in comparison to 47000MT last year. The authorities expect wheat to arrive in the coming 10 days also.

KHANNA: The low arrival of wheat at Asia’s biggest grain market had upset the commission agents of the area as they are worried to get back their advances given to the farmers. A commission agent said that this season the produce of wheat was 4 to 5 quintals less than last year.

A labour leader said that this was the shortest wheat season ever seen by him in his life.

The arrival of wheat is only 91,79 tonnes this year till May 1 against the last year’s 1,16,150 tonnes on the same date. The private traders have also not shown much interest in the purchase of wheat. They had purchased only 10,349 tonnes of wheat till last date. The lifting was going on smoothly but slower than expected.

PATIALA: The production of wheat in the district may fall by at least 50,000 metric tonnes this year. As much as 7.98 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been recorded in the district against 8.48 lakh metric tonnes recorded last year.

The District Food and Supplies Officer, Mr H.S. Mokha, said wheat arrivals were petering out and that the total production this year would be in the range of 8 lakh metric tonnes.

Though there was a problem of lifting of wheat during the past fortnight of last month, the situation had normalised now. Sources said there was a glut in the wheat arrival from April 10 to 18 when as much as 80,000 to 90,000 metric tonnes was received in mandis everyday. This, the sources said, was because of fears of rain causing problems in lifting. Presently out of the 7.98 lakh metric tonnes purchased in the district, as much as 791 lakh mt had been lifted. Besides, a majority of farmers had been paid for their produce with Rs 468 crore being given against total due payments of Rs 536 crore in the district.

SANGRUR: About 91 per cent of wheat, procured by the government agencies and traders in the district till May 2, has been lifted from grain markets and procurement centres. A total of 11,39,596 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured in the district so far.

According to official sources, out of the total 11,39,596 MTS of procured wheat, only 97,381 MTS of wheat is yet to be lifted from the grain markets. The wheat stocks are lying in grain markets of Sangrur, Bhawanigarh, Dhuri, Malerkotla, Barnala, Ahmedgarh and Sunam.

Mr Raghbir Singh, District Food and Supply Controller (DFSC), said the remaining stocks of procured wheat, now lying in the grain markets, would be lifted by Wednesday. He said that of the 252 procurement centres set up during the current procurement season, 130 had already been closed due to no fresh arrivals there.

The DEFC said that due to the shortage of labour, entire procured wheat could not be lifted so far. The labour was busy in unloading trains of fertilisers.