Over Rs 1600 crore paid to Punjab farmers for paddy pruchase

Chandigarh, Oct 12 (UNI) The five Punjab state procurement agencies alongwith the FCI have so far paid over Rs 1606.80 crore for paddy procured from the farmers in the last 12 days.

An official spokesman said today that farmers are being made payment of paddy procured by the government agencies within 48 hours of lifting of paddy from the procurement centres.

Meanwhile the paddy procurement by the six government agencies and traders crossed 33 lakh tonnes in Punjab till yesterday evening.

While the five state agencies--Markfed, Pungrain, Punjab Agros, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Punsup had made bulk of the purchase, FCI procured 41,972 tonnes of paddy. The millers had procured 3,80,066 tonnes of paddy til yesterday evening.

Ferozepur district was leading in the procurement, with 7,01,216 tonnes of paddy having been purchased so far.

The Punjab Food Supply had setup 1622 procurement centres throughout the state to ensure smooth procurement of paddy.

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