Ensure paddy brought to mandi meets specifications, farmers told

The Deputy Commissioner and the SSP have been visiting grain markets in the district to persuade all stakeholders, including commission agents, farmers and rice millers, to ensure smooth procurement as well as speedy lifting of procured paddy.

The repeated blockade of traffic on highways by farmers against the slow pace of lifting has also put a lot of pressure on the district administration.

Talking to The Tribune at the grain market in Sirhind, DC Dr Sona Thind and SSP Dr Ravjot Grewal said the district was not facing any severe crisis regarding the procurement and lifting of paddy as a majority of the rice millers had signed the contract with the procurement agencies after meeting them and have started lifting the procured paddy.

Yet they are in the field to address the problem regarding the specifications of paddy brought by the farmers as it was not being procured by the agencies, they said.

The DC and SSP said they were visiting grain markets to educate farmers to bring their paddy produce as per the recommended specification so that immediate procurement could be ensured.

They said that the procurement and lifting of paddy was going on smoothly in the district. They said all stakeholders were now cooperating and the payments were being made to the farmers on the same day.

Meanwhile, Sadhu Ram Bhattmajra, district president, Commission Agents Association, said the farmers were equally responsible for the situation as they were bringing paddy above specification, which the government does not purchase and the rice millers don’t lift it, fearing great losses.

Inderjit Singh Sandhu, district president of the Rice Millers Association, urged the Centre to immediately address the issue of space crunch so that the lifting of procured paddy may be intensified.