To stem rot, wheat being refilled into new gunny bags in Bathinda

Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 24

More than 20,000 bags of wheat are rotting in the grain markets of Pungrain in some villages of Bathinda district due to rain and the delay in lifting of wheat bags.

Sources said that about 12,000 bags in the grain market of Puhla village of Nathana block and more than 8,000 bags in the grain markets of Rama block of Bathinda are undergoing decay.

Similarly, around 1,400 bags of Punsup in Bhupali grain market of Rampura had also met with the same condition a few days ago, but arhtiyas had reportedly got the bags refilled with wheat grains.

Of the 45,000 wheat bags lying in the grain market at Puhla village, The Tribune team found that labourers were in the process of changing thousands of gunny bags.

Purchased and provided by the state government, each gunny bag costs about Rs 22. There is a loss of around 2 kg of wheat from each bag in which the rot has set in. The bags are being changed and the spoilt wheat is being thrown away.

The labourers here complained of exploitation as they were not being paid for refilling wheat in fresh bags. The task of loading procured wheat into bags was given to arhtiyas this time.

Mithlesh, a labourer, said, “We are being given no payment for this work...only food is being given. We fear that our earlier payment of filling the bags would be withheld if we raise our voice against this exploitation.

“In the first exercise, our job simply was to load the procured wheat into the bags. This time, the difficulty of our work has increased manifold as the entire content has to be taken out, the rotten grain removed and the bags refilled.”

District Food and Supply Commissioner, Bathinda, AP Singh said, “The wheat in the grain markets of Rama and Nathana blocks is rotten due to heavy rain. Not much wheat has gone bad...only the grain in the lower part of the bag. We are investigating into the matter and finding out whether any official was responsible for it. The loss is also being assessed.”

Punsup DM Bathinda, however, denied any rotting of wheat in the grains markets but admitted that wheat bags had been affected with rain in the Bhupali grain market. These were refilled by arhtiyas, he said.