Govt sets up 10,000 purchase centres for wheat procurement

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) The Food Corporation of India (FCI), state governments and their agencies have set up over 10,000 purchase centres throughout the country to extend and ensure that the farmers get the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 850 per quintal for their wheat produce.

These agencies have so far purchased 97 lakh million tonnes (MT) wheat for central pool while the purchase are still in progress, a FCI statement said here today.

The MSP operation by these organisations will continue till May in Punjab and Haryana, June-end in remaining states while in Bihar it will be up to July 15.

The government buffer level of wheat stocks stands at over 125 lakh MTs inclusive of about 4.5 lakhs of last year's carry over stocks. The present allocation of wheat for TPDS and other welfare schemes is about 10 lakhs MTs per month and the requirement for the current year is around 120 lakh MTs.

The government has already undertaken steps to import 10 lakh MT of wheat and plans to import further quantities as required.

UNI