Wheat procurement begins, purchase centres yet to be cleaned in Muktsar

Archit Watts

Muktsar, April 1

The wheat procurement season officially started on Monday, but not even a single granule arrived in purchase centres across the district on the first day. Further, the purchase centres have not even been cleaned yet.

Some farmers and commission agents said that the recent rain and hailstorm has delayed the wheat harvesting this time. The fresh crop will start arriving at the purchase centres around Baisakhi.

During a visit to the grain market in Muktsar today, stray cattle were found roaming freely and garbage was yet to be removed from some areas.

Muktsar District Mandi Officer Rajnish Grover said, “The district has 127 purchase centres and primary preparations have been made for the procurement of wheat crop. Fresh crop is expected to arrive at the centres by April 12-13.”

Ranjit Singh, a farmer, said: “The rain and hailstorm on Saturday did not just delay the harvesting of wheat, but will also have an adverse impact on the yield. The wheat crop is still green in colour and will turn golden after a few sunny days.”

The recent rain has also caused waterlogging at the grain market in Doda village here. As of now, there were no arrangements to drain out the rainwater, some farmers claimed.