Paddy procurement row: Govt launches probe in 3 flood-hit Punjab districts

The Punjab Government has started a probe into how the paddy procured till date was at par with the crop procured last year in three flood-ravaged districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Fazilka.

The deputy commissioners of the three districts have been asked by the Food and Civil Supplies Department to henceforth go in for “conditional purchase” only after the District Food Civil Supplies Controllers or SDMs verify bonafides of farmers to ascertain that paddy they have brought for procurement has been produced by them.

In Amritsar, 3.02 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy was procured last year and 2.98 LMT so far this year.

In Tarn Taran, 9.29 LMT was procured last year and 9.02 LMT has been procured so far this year. In Fazilka, 2.14 LMT was procured last year as well as this year.

This is despite the fact that standing crop on 61,256 acres in Amritsar, 23,308 acres in Tarn Taran and 33,123 acres in Fazilka had been destroyed in the recent floods, according to the Agriculture Department.

Meanwhile, officials agreed that there had been “large-scale smuggling” of cheaper non-basmati varieties from Rajasthan to mandis in Fazilka, where farmers, in cahoots with commission agents and unscrupulous officials, have shown this as having been produced in the district.

This cheaper paddy is being sold to government procurement agencies at the MSP of Rs 2,389 per quintal.

“Earlier, an FIR was registered in Fazilka to curb the practice,” said a senior department officer. The officer said they had then sought the help of the Punjab Police as well as Punjab Mandi Board officials to ensure that this malpractice was curbed.

Officials in Amritsar and Tarn Taran said the reason for increase in paddy procurement was that farmers had shifted to non-basmati varieties this year.

According to officials, farmers told them that since basmati paddy did not fetch good price last year, they shifted to non-basmati varieties that are procured by government agencies at minimum support price.