Paddy procurement in Punjab crosses 36 lakh tonnes

Chandigarh, Oct 13 (UNI) Paddy procurement in Punjab crossed 36 lakh tonnes in Punjab with border district of Ferozepur leading the country with a purchase of 7, 49,250 tonnes till yesterday evening.

According to official figures, the five state government purchase agencies---Markfed, Pungrain, Punsup, Punjab Agros and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation accounted for 87 per cent of the purchase made so far. The Central Government agency, FCI procured only 45,732 tonnes of paddy (1.4%) while the millers procured 4, 08,023 tonnes of paddy (11.2 %) till Sunday evening.

The six government agencies had so far paid over Rs 1818.13 crore for paddy procured by them so far. The farmers are being paid within 48 hours of lifting of their paddy stocks from the procurement centres.

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

UNI HS MMS1712