Punjab to seek waiver of grain weight norm

Punjab is set to approach the Centre seeking a waiver of the “storage gain” condition for the ongoing wheat procurement season, citing severe weather effect that has significantly impacted the crop quality.

The move follows a letter by the joint coordination committee (JCC) of state procurement agencies that said the current produce fell “under relaxed specifications” (URS) and posed serious storage risks.

In its letter to the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Punjab, the committee flagged a sharp deterioration in wheat quality due to unusually high temperatures, followed by rain and hailstorms during harvesting. These conditions, it said, adversely affected grain development, leading to shrivelling, discolouration, sprouting, structural damage and loss of endosperm.

Despite the Centre relaxing the fair average quality (FAQ) norms by increasing the permissible limit for shrivelled and broken grains, the procured wheat remained of “very low quality” with high moisture content, the committee said.

The committee said freshly harvested grain initially retained moisture due to poor aeration in mandis, but subsequently it lost moisture, resulting in weight loss rather than any “storage gain”.

Citing the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the committee said the existing storage gain formula (29.10) was based on FAQ wheat stored under ideal conditions. Applying it to the current URS wheat, marked by poor grain health and structural damage, was “neither natural nor scientifically justified”.

A senior official of the department said, “We are writing to the Centre and preparing the draft that will be issued in a day or two.”