Ruchika M Khanna
Chandigarh, May 3
With their focus on storage and movement of grains from Punjab to other recipient states, Food Corporation of India has so far procured just 2.36 per cent of the total grains procured from mandis in the state.
The central food procurement agency has not made any purchase of wheat in the mandis of seven districts of Kapurthala, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Moga, Bathinda, Mansa and Patiala. Figures available with The Tribune show that of the total 116.17 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat purchased till today, the FCI has procured just 2.74 LMT.
The data available with The Tribune also shows that in four districts of Fazilka, Faridkot, Barnala and Sangrur, the procurement by the central food agency is less than 4,000 metric tonnes, with lowest procurement of 800 MT made in Sangrur.
Officials in the Food and Supply Department have told The Tribune that this year, they had not allotted many mandis to FCI. The grains that were to be procured by it would have gone to the silos directly. However, following the withdrawal of the order by the state government regarding declaring the silos as open market yards, some of the mandis were again allotted to FCI.
"Over the past three years, its direct procurement from mandis has remained static at around 2 per cent of total wheat procurement," said an official.
Vijay Kalra, president of Federation of Arhtiya Association of Punjab, said there are labour pangs in the mandis allotted to FCI as it imposes up to 30 per cent cuts in labour rates. "That is why very few mandis are allotted to FCI," he said.
B Srinivasan, Chief General Manager, FCI, Punjab Region, said that over the past few years, their focus has been on storage of grains and their movement to other states. "The procurement is being done by state procurement agencies on behalf of FCI only. This year, so far, around 8 LMT of grains have been moved out till now and around 20 LMT will be moved out of Punjab during May. This will give us sufficient space to store this year's produce," he said.