Jalandhar, April 14
The prevailing cold and inclement weather condition has been a dampener on traditional Baisakhi celebrations which signals that wheat harvesting season was in full flow. It is after a gap of nearly 30 years that such weather conditions have been seen in Punjab where one third of the total wheat production of the state would have been procured by April 13. The procurement officially began on April 1.

Till today, 55, 175 tonne of wheat has been procured, out of which 45,000 tonne was procured in Patiala district alone today. This means that harvesting has started in right earnest in this area.

The effect of the weather on the procurement this year can be gauged from the fact that almost 32 lakh tonnes of wheat had been procured by

various agencies till April 13 last year. The corresponding figures for the same period this year are only 83, 219 tonne, implying that harvesting is yet to begin in other parts of the state and farmers are waiting for the weather to clear up. Commenting on the delay in harvesting, Dr B S Sidhu, Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said the prolonged cold spell had delayed ripening of the crop. Otherwise, one third percentage of the total crop would have been procured by this date, he informed.