No value cut on broken wheat grains: Khattar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18

To provide further relief to farmers whose crops were damaged in rain and hail, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today announced that shrivelled and broken grains of wheat would be procured without any value cut.

The value cut, he said, would also not be applied on procured wheat. He assured farmers that every grain would be procured.

“I wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding waiving value cut on shrivelled and broken grains of wheat. The matter was taken up with Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan who endorsed the Haryana Government’s request,” the Chief Minister said.

While reviewing the procurement arrangements with agencies concerned, Khattar directed them to ensure smooth and continuous procurement, and said no laxity would be tolerated.

“The interest of farmer is government’s priority. If the Centre does not concede our demand, the state would bear the cost and not the farmers. The wheat will be procured at the minimum support price of Rs 1,450 per quintal,” he said.

Wheat with more than 50 per cent lustre loss has been arriving in mandis of Palwal, Mewat, Sonepat and Jind. Khattar said he had spoken to Paswan earlier in the day, urging him to allow procurement of lustre-loss wheat.

Khattar appealed to farmers to bring wheat to mandis after drying it up. “Duties have been assigned to senior officers of the rank of the Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries to supervise the procurement by visiting mandis so that every grain of the farmers is procured,” he added.