54 LMT paddy procured out of 59 LMT arrival: Lal Chand Kataruchak

Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): The Punjab Government under the visionary guidance of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is sparing no effort to ensure a smooth and hassle free paddy procurement season 2024-25. Effective procurement, lifting and payment mechanism has been put in place in all the mandis of the State to take care of the interests of all the stakeholders i.e. the farmers, arhtiyas, millers as well as the labourers.

Till date, 59,79,723.94 Metric Tonnes (MT) paddy has arrived in the mandis of the State out of which 54,98,389.72 MT has been procured, said the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak while taking stock of the procurement season in a VC with all the DFSCs, District Managers and senior officers of the department and added that Punjab is proceeding very rapidly towards meeting the procurement target.

Further, the lifting has also picked up speed with total 23,30,117.58 MT of paddy being lifted as of now and a record 4.13 LMT lifted in a single day on October 27th.

With regard to the payments issue, Mr. Kataruchak divulged that an amount of Rs. 7640.55 Crore has been credited into the accounts of the farmers so as to ensure that they are able to celebrate Diwali in a grand manner at their homes.

Directing the DFSCs to further press the accelerator in terms of procurement and lifting, the Minister said that he is fully confident that with the collective efforts of all, the procurement season would turn out to be a very successful one.