Over 40 lakh tonnes of paddy procured in Punjab

Chandigarh, Oct 14 (UNI) Paddy procurement by six government agencies and traders crossed 40 lakh tonnes in Punjab.

Out of the total procurement of 40.27 lakh tonnes, the five state government agencies--Markfed, Pungrain, Punsup, Punjab Agros and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation--accounted for 87.4 per cent of the purchase made so far.

The Central Government Agency FCI had procured only 49,919 tonnes of paddy, which is just 1.4 per cent of the total procurement while the private millers had procured 4,52,839 tonnes of paddy (11.2 percent) by Monday.

The six government agencies had paid Rs 2046.11 crores for paddy procured by agencies during first 14 days of current Kharif Marketing Season.

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

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