Grain stock ‘missing’ in Punjab, banks hold up payment funds

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 15

Barely 15 days after the wheat procurement season, the SAD-BJP government is staring at a crisis — regarding payment to farmers. 

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) claiming that grain stocks worth Rs 12,000 crore have gone missing in the state, the consortium of national banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), has held up funds. SBI has reportedly called a meeting on April 18 to discuss the issue.

The state government, that had sought Rs 21,000 crore from the banks under the Cash Credit Limit (CCL) for  procurement, has been persuading the Centre to get the funds released. In an election year, it cannot afford to antagonise the farmers by delaying payment to them.

Since April1, about 9.97 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured for which no payment has been made. As per the rules, both state and central agencies must clear payments within 48 hours of procurement. State officials, who went into a huddle today, remained incommunicado. 

In the evening, they claimed that it was an accounts issue and not about pilferage of stocks. Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Kairon met the officials concerned but did not respond to queries. Kumar Rahul, General Manager (Punjab), FCI, said the state government was the custodian of stocks and the FCI was only involved in procurement.

RK Choudhry, Secretary, Department of Food Supplies, said: “No stock is missing. It is an accounts issue, which is being looked into.” Punjab is yet to join the e-market project.