Over 94 lakh tonnes paddy procured in Punjab

Chandigarh, Oct 25 (UNI) Government agencies and private millers procured more than 94 lakh tonnes of paddy till yesterday.

According to an official spokesman, of the total procurement of of Paddy in all the procurement centers of the state, 80.9 per cent of paddy was purchased by the government agencies while 19.1 per cent was purchased by the millers.

Till October 24, Pungrain had procured 19.04 lakh tonnes (24.8%) whereas Markfed procured 18.31 lakh tonnes (23.9%). Punsup procured 19.58 lakh tonnes (25.5%), PSWC procured 10.51 lakh tonnes (13.7%) whereas PAIC was able to procure 8.43 lakh tonnes (11 %) of paddy.

The Central government agency FCI had been able to procure 88,922 tonnes (1.2%).

The spokesman said that Ludhiana district with 11.57 lakh tonnes of procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas Ferozepur district with 11.21 lakh tonnes of procurement was at second slot and Patiala district with 9.73 lakh tonnes of procurement ranked at third position.

The spokesman added that the state government had already made payment to the tune of Rs 4504.80 Crore for paddy procured till October 23. Rs 5497.79 crore payment had been allocated to all agencies to ensure timely payment to the farmers. The Government had already issued instructions to make payment to the farmers within 72 hours of lifting paddy.

He said to ensure smooth procurement and timely payments to the farmers, the Punjab government had already got a cash credit limit of Rs 7439 Crores sanctioned from Reserve Bank of India for Kharif Season 2007-08.

The State Government has set up 1544 procurement centres and activated its total machinery to ensure smooth procurement of paddy, the spokesman added.

UNI