Farmers worried over slow pace of lifting procured wheat in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Karnal, April 17

Despite directives from the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to speed up the lifting process of procured wheat, the pace remains sluggish, raising concerns among farmers and officials.

So far, all 23 procurement centres and grain markets across the district have seen an arrival of 317,416 MT of wheat. Of this, 3,15,283 MT has been purchased by the procurement agencies. However, the bottleneck lies in the lifting process, with only 93,272 MT of wheat being lifted by the agencies so far, leaving a significant backlog of 2,22,011 MT in the grain markets. The situation is compounded by unfavorable climatic conditions, with looming threats of rain.

Farmers, already grappling with the challenge of high moisture content responsible for slow procurement, now face uncertainty of inclement weather. The IMD has indicated rainfall on April 19, after which the farmers are worried about the delay in harvesting and procurement process, posing a risk to the quality and quantity of the harvested wheat.

DC Uttam Singh visited Karnal and Gharaunda grain markets and reviewed the arrangements. He directed the authorities to speed up the lifting process.