Disinfecting of grain markets begins ahead of procurement

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, April 12

With a view to keeping the spread of Covid-19 at bay during the wheat procurement process scheduled to start from April 15, the local administration has started disinfecting the grain markets in the district.

The administration on Sunday arranged the spray of sodium hypochlorite in the district’s biggest grain market, Bhagtanwala Dana Mandi, here. The district has a total of 56 grain markets.

Lok Sabha MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, along with others, was present to supervise the spray process. He said all the grain markets in the district would be disinfected before the start of the procurement process. Disinfecting tunnels would also be set up at the entrance of all the grain markets so that all vehicles and persons entering the premises could be sanitized, he said.

As thousands of farmers and workers visited the grain markets during the procurement season, it would be a difficult task for the administration to check the spread of the infection. To check a rush of people at the markets, the administration has come up with a novel method of issuing stickers to arhtiyas who would issue these to farmers. Only those vehicles which carry the sticker would be allowed to enter the markets.

Officials of the district administration stated that only a limited number of sticker passes would be issued every day to keep a check on large gatherings of people at the markets. Besides, the arhtiyas would have to keep a check on the health of all their workers on a daily basis, and maintain a record.

Aujla said the administration had planned to allow only the driver of the tractor trolley to enter the market and as such farmers would be appealed to abide by all the instructions. He said the government was committed to procuring each and every grain of farmers’ produce so that they did not face any trouble.