Under e-kharid, state to soon digitise procurement of foodgrains under MSP

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 26

Come January, Punjab under its ‘e-kharid’ initiative is all set to digitise the procurement process of foodgrains under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in all 1,800 anaj mandis, including 152 man mandis, across the state.

Not only this, consumers sitting at home would be able to check online the prices of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Already trail of the ‘e-Kharid’ portal has been successfully run in four mandis — Amritsar, Talwani Bhai, Sirhind and Rajpura.

Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board, Ravi Bhagat said the portal would enable transparency at all levels in the foodgrains procurement process and allow ease of doing business to traders and also empower farmers by providing real time information and timely payment.

The integrated management system (MIS) under the portal would not only capture the basic details of farmers and the commodity at the arrival gate of mandis but also record auction transactions online. It would also record exact weight in the auction transaction.

Under the E-NAM (National Agricultural Marketing), a pan-India electronic trading portal of existing APMC mandis has been fully operational in 19 mandis. Case of making another 18 mandis operational is pending with the Centre.

So far, 2.10 lakh farmers, 5,190 commission agents and 1,310 traders have been registered on e-NAM portal. So far, transactions of Rs 2,546 crore in crops like peas, basmati, potato, maize, moong and cotton have been traded through the portal.

BOX: Mandi board mobile app

To monitor attendance, e auction of properties, feedback and complaints on illegal constructions and encroachments through mobile applications, an app has been introduced.