Help desks at Punjab mandis to assist in DBT portal registration

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 22

In a bid to facilitate farmers facing hardship on account of introduction of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system for the ongoing rabi marketing season, the Punjab Mandi Board has set up ‘Farmer Help Desks’ at grain markets across the state for online registration on the new portal for making payments directly into their bank accounts.

Board chairman Lal Singh said the rationale behind the move was to ensure timely payment to farmers into their bank accounts expeditiously. Of the 12 lakh farmers, nearly six lakh had already uploaded the requisite documents on portal https://anaajkharid.in/farmerRegistrations/farmerRegistrations.

The chairman said the counters would help guide/assist farmers and arthiyas for registration on the portal. Efforts were on to help the remaining farmers for registration as the majority of them were not tech savvy, he said. The Centre has implemented the DBT for crops procured on MSP and the payment thereof would be credited directly to the bank accounts of farmers.

So far 64.25 LMT wheat had arrived in mandis, as against 17.56 LMT during the corresponding period last year. Of this, 59.78 LMT had been procured across the state.

Sangrur district led in arrival with 7.89 LMT, followed by Patiala and Ludhiana with 6.30 LMT and 5.09 LMT, respectively. As many as 10.59 lakh passes had been given to farmers through arthiyas by the board.