Punjab, Haryana procure over 10 mn tonnes of paddy

CHANDIGARH - Punjab and Haryana have procured over 10 million tonnes of paddy in the first 28 days of the procurement season, food and supplies officials said here Thursday.

In Punjab, government agencies and private millers procured over eight million tonnes of paddy, the officials said.

In neighbouring Haryana, nearly 2.1 million tonnes of paddy have arrived in grain markets so far.

Over 98 per cent of the total procurement in Punjab has been done by the government agencies in over 1,700 procurement centres in grain markets across the state. The rest has been purchased by private rice millers.

Farmers in different parts in recent days have been claiming that the procurement process was slow as officials were not purchasing paddy with a little higher moisture content.

They said some of the produce have higher moisture content and discoloration owing to heavy rainfall in September this year and also the thunderstorm that hit Punjab Oct 22.

Ferozepur district with over 831,569 tonnes was leading in procurement operations followed by Patiala with 777,083 and Ludhiana with 653,205 tonnes.

In Haryana, out of the total arrival, nearly 1.72 million tonnes were procured by government agencies while the rest was purchased by private millers.

Haryana Food and Supplies Minister Mahender Partap Singh said Thursday that Kurukshetra district was leading in paddy arrival with over 472,000 tonnes, followed by Karnal with 397,000 tonnes and Fatehabad with over 322,000 tonnes.