Wheat procurement begins after 3 days, moisture content still a worry

Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 4

After three days of delay, government agencies finally started the procurement of wheat in various grain markets of the district on Monday.

Gunny bags gutted in Pehowa mandi fire

Kurukshetra: A huge quantity of gunny bags were damaged after a fire broke under a shed at the Pehowa grain market on Monday. No injuries or casualties were reported in the incident. After getting information, DC Mukul Kumar and other district officials reached the spot. As per the information, around 400 bales of gunny bags got damaged in the fire. The DC said: “The exact loss is being estimated.” TNS

Till 6 pm, around 2,500 quintal of wheat have been purchased by the agencies and around 700 quintal by private players, official data said.

However, the arrival of the produce is still slow. Also, the wheat brought to the mandis has high moisture content, due to which it couldn’t be purchased. The permissible limit for the moisture content was up to 12%, while the wheat coming to the mandis was 14-16% moist, said an official of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board.

So far, around 16,000 quintal of wheat has arrived all 22 purchase centres and mandis of the district.

The Assandh mandi got 3,305 quintal of wheat, but the procurement was nil, while 3,409 quintal arrived at the Gharaunda mandi, of which 1,600 quintal was purchased by government agencies, while 700 quintals by private players, that too above the MSP.

In the Indri and Jundla mandis, the arrival was 1,477 quintal and 3,611 quintal, respectively, but the procurement was nil. The Karnal mandi got 1,943 quintal, but only 743 quintal of wheat was purchased. Also, Kunjpura, Nigdhu, Nilokheri and Nissing grain markets got 488 quintal, 795 quintal, 185 quintal and 3,422 quintal of wheat, but no procurement had taken place. In the Taraori grain market, 100 quintal of wheat was purchased of the total arrival of 425 quintal.

Ishwar Rana, District Marketing Enforcement Officer, Karnal, said they had made all arrangements in the grain markets and purchase centres. “The agencies have also started the procurement. Farmers won’t face any difficulty in the grain markets.”

Meanwhile, Virender Singh, District Food and Supplies Controller, said: “Our agency has purchased around 70 MT of wheat on Monday.”

However, the Arhtiyas association blamed the agencies for not giving adequate gunny bags. “Arhtiyas of all mandis haven’t been given gunny bags. Those who have received the bags, had lesser quantity,” said Rajnish Chaudhary, chairman, Haryana Anajmandi Arhtiyas Association.

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