AMRITSAR – Mr. Darbara Singh Guru, Principal Secretary/CM Punjab today inspected the paddy procurement arrangements in various Grain Markets of Amritsar including Bhakna, Attari, Bhagtan Wala, Jandiala and Rayya. He interacted at length with the farmers and commission agents to obtain the feed back regarding the ground realities of the procurement process.
Later, talking to media, Mr. Guru expressed satisfaction over the procurement, lifting and payments being done to the farmers. He informed that the State Government has a cash credit limit of Rs. 18,600 crore to pay for paddy procurement. He informed that as per the directions of Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister Punjab, paddy procurement has been accorded first priority in the State and it is being ensured that paddy payments are made to the farmers within 48 hours of purchase. He said that payment of Rs. 1700 crore has been made against the total paddy procured so far, worth Rs. 1900 crore. For smooth procurement number of mandis in the State have been raised from 1718 to 1750, said he.
Giving the details of paddy procurement in the State Mr. Guru informed that till Oct. 13, nearly 27.50 lac metric tones of paddy has arrived in grain markets statewide out of which 25 lac metric tones i.e. 95% of the total arrival has been purchased.
Giving details about the arrangements made for hassle free procurement, Mr. Guru informed that the State has been divided into 6 sectors which are being supervised directly by 4 Divisional Commissioners and 2 Special Secretary rank senior IAS officers.
After taking a first hand account of procurement arrangements from the various farmers who had arrived in the Grain Markets, Mr. Guru informed that the farmers were satisfied with the arrangements in the market and had informed that they did not have to wait for more than 24 hours for procurement of their produce.
The shopkeepers of Bhagtanwala grain market informed Mr. Guru that the garbage dump near the grain market was a great source of nuisance and the residents of the nearby areas even threw garbage in the mandi. Mr. Guru formed a 3 member committee including Mr. Rajat Aggarwal Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Dharmpal Gupta, Commissioner Municipal Corporation and Mr. Sukhminder Singh Distt. Mandi Officer to look into the matter and take a suitable action. He proposed the committee to consider the suggestion of the shopkeepers of having built a boundary wall around the grain market.
Mr. Anurag Verma, Commissioner Jalandhar Division, Mr. Rajat Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Mr. Gurmit Singh Chohan, SSP Amritsar Rural, Mr. Darnesh Sharma, Deputy Director Food and Civil Supply Jalandhar, Mr. Rakesh Singla, DFSC and Distt. Managers of various procurement agencies accompanied Mr. Guru during the inspection.
