Punjab urges Centre to ease wheat purchase regulations

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 10

Procurement operations could begin in earnest from Wednesday as the Centre is expected to announce relaxation in specifications for lustre-loss and shrivelled grains in wheat to be procured during the ongoing rabi marketing season tomorrow.

The Punjab Government has also demanded a special package from the Centre for farmers, who have suffered crop damage because of the vagaries of weather. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has written to the Centre, requesting it to increase its share of compensation given to the affected farmers under the disaster relief fund as the state has already increased its share by 25 per cent. The government has also demanded relaxation in specifications for wheat procurement.

Most of the 166 samples of wheat, collected by the central teams from 12 districts over the past three days, have been found to have either black grains or shrivelled grains beyond the specified 6 per cent. The damaged and broken grains, beyond the specified limit, have also been reported. The results of testing of these grains came out today, confirmed a senior officer in the FCI Punjab Region Office.

The government has demanded that grains with up to 6 per cent damage, 12 per cent slightly damaged and 15 per cent broken grains be procured by the Centre, besides grains that have a complete lustre loss.

There is unlikelihood of any change in specifications for moisture content in wheat. With the weather getting warmer and drier by the day, it is expected that the moisture content will itself fall down and come within the specified range of 12 per cent. Reports coming in from different mandis suggest that the moisture content is still high at 15-18 per cent.

The relaxation in specifications for procurement of wheat is to be announced by the Department of Food and Public Distribution in the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, which has been sent the reports of the samples tested in the labs of the Punjab Regional Office of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) today. Officials and functionaries in the state government opined that the relaxations could be announced in a day or so.

State Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said the Centre should immediately announce relaxation in specifications as wheat arrivals had started. “In any case, the grains are to be transferred from mandis to the recipient states immediately. So making relaxation in specifications should not be difficult. The Chief Minister today deputed ministers to different districts to oversee girdawri and procurement to send a message that each grain brought to the market will be procured,” he said.

4.92 lakh MT still in stock

• As of now, 4.92 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, procured in the previous years, is still lying in Punjab. FCI officials said they would first supply the grain procured during the ongoing season

Only 18% stock purchased so far

• Till date, 81,519 metric tonnes of wheat have arrived in grain markets. Of this, only 14,924 metric tonnes have been procured, which is just 18 per cent, as grain does not meet the specifications

What FCI report has found

• Lustre loss: 35-80 per cent
• Shrivelled & broken grain: 15-16 per cent (2-6 per cent is allowed for damaged, slightly damaged and broken)
• Moisture content: 15-18 per cent ( allowed 12-14 per cent)