Only 52% procured wheat lifted from grain markets in 22 districts

Panipat, April 24

Almost 95 per cent of the crop has arrived in the state’s grain markets, of which only 52.09 per cent procured wheat have been lifted till Sunday evening. The delay in tenders for transportation and labour was the main reason behind the slow lifting of the procured wheat in the state.

As per the record, 50.32 lakh MT of wheat crop has been procured in all 22 districts, of which 26.20 lakh MT of the procured wheat had been lifted from the grain markets and the remaining lying in grain markets.

The lowest wheat lifting was recorded in Gurugram district, which was only 32.20 per cent of the received grains, while the highest of 90.62 per cent was recorded in Mahendergarh district. Panipat was at 10th and Sonepat district was at 15th position for the lifting of the procured wheat till Sunday.

The Sonepat district administration swung into action over tardy lifting today. Deputy Commissioner Lalit Siwach directed officials to pace up lifting in the district. The DC said the lifting would be improved in coming two-three days as the FCI had given approval for keeping the procured wheat bags in the Haryana Warehousing Corporation’s godown and its capacity was 10,000 MT, he added. Binsal Sehrawat, DFSC, Sonepat, also asked the FCI to keep the procured wheat in the DFSC and HAFED godowns, so that lifting could be speeded up.

Sehrawat said the capacity of DFSC godowns was 45,000 MT while they had permission to keep only 5,000 MT wheat in their godowns. Besides, the capacity of HAFED godowns was 51,000 MT, but the FCI wass only keeping the wheat in their godowns, he added.

Lakhs of farmers getting MSP: Tomar

• Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said the Union Government had already started providing MSP on several crops, and lakhs of farmers were getting benefits from it.
• On the issue of farmers suffering losses due to untimely rain, Tomar said the farmers of Haryana and Punjab contribute a lot in grain production. “The farmers will be compensated for the losses,” he added.