Lal Chand Kataruchak, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister said that Punjab has procured about 45 lakh metric tonnes of wheat in the state mandis. Today, the minister was at Banga Mandi in the SBS Nagar district to take stock of the procurement operations.
So far without imposing any value cut, he said, Rs 7,300 crore had been transferred to the accounts of two lakh farmers. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has given strict orders to the state procurement agencies that the full amount should be paid to farmers without causing any loss to them,” said the Minister, adding that the cut would be an injustice and add to the miseries of farmers who were already lurching under the wrath of heavy rains.
He said the Government of India should not have imposed a value cut.
While interacting with a farmer, Makhan Singh, who was here to sell his yield, the minister asked him about any difficulties the farmers had been facing in the mandis. The ministers claimed that the farmers admired the government’s uninterrupted procurement arrangements.
He also enquired about the arrangements done by the market committees in the mandis from the labourers working there and said they expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. The minister directed the Mandi Board officials to arrange more sets by the next procurement season.
Answering the media query about the verification of Blue Cards (Atta Dal Scheme), the minister said without any interference the process was going on and the government would ensure that legitimate beneficiaries would get benefits.
