Paddy growers await payment from procurement agencies

Sushil Goyal

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, November 27

The farmers have been waiting for the payment in respect of their paddy crop which they had sold to government procurement agencies about 15 days ago in local grain market and nearby procurement centres.

It is learnt that the state government’s procurement agencies could not make the payments to the arhtiyas during the past about 15 days as the Central government has not released the funds for the purpose.

As per information, all five government procurement agencies, namely Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, Warehouse and Punjab Agro, have yet to make the payment to the tune of Rs 70 crore to the arhtiyas of the Sangrur district so far. During this paddy season, these agencies had procured paddy worth over Rs 2,350 crore in Sangrur district while the agencies had already made payments to the tune of over Rs 2,280 crore to the arhtiyas.

Pardeep Singla, an arhtiya of Sangrur grain market, said he was yet to receive the payment, worth Rs 95 lakh, from three procurement agencies — Punjab Agro, Pungrain and Markfed — though his ‘Rupay Card’ had been swiped about 15 days ago by these agencies to make the payment. He said due to the non-payment of dues, the arhtiyas had been facing problems as the farmers were demanding money from them.

The accountant of an arhtiya of Sangrur grain market said their firm was yet to receive about Rs 2 crore from the procurement agencies for the paddy crop of farmers, sold to agencies more than a fortnight ago. He said the procurement agencies had swiped their “Rupay card” but amounts had not been credited into their bank accounts so far.

The District Food Supply Controller (DFSC), Sangrur, Manish Narula, said the payments would be credited into the accounts of arhtiyas by Monday or Tuesday as the Central government had released funds for the purpose. He said in Sangrur district, the government procurement agencies had already made 97% payment of the procured paddy to the arhtiyas.