Tomorrow Government of Punjab shall be transferring more than Rs. 2000 crores into farmers bank accounts in lieu of MSP payments. Disclosing this today, a spokesperson of the State Government said that Rs. 828 crore had already been transferred to the farmers so far. Now the Department has processed and approved payments worth Rs. 2137 crore which will be credited by the banks directly into the accounts of the farmers tomorrow. Responding to a query about the ongoing visits of the Central Teams to assess the extent of shrivelled grains arriving in the Mandis, he said that the teams had already surveyed 17 districts and it was expected that the remaining six districts would be covered tomorrow. On the expected disruption in procurement due to overnight rain and consequent stagnant water in the Mandis, he said that the Mandi Board officials had worked overnight to ensure that the Mandis were cleared of any stagnant water and consequently there was not even a minute of disruption in procurement operations today. Divulging further on the ongoing status of procurement the spokesperson said that wheat arrivals had peaked in the state with more than 8.2 lakh tonnes of wheat arriving in a single day today. So far 36 lakh tonnes of wheat had arrived in the Mandis and the State Procurement Agencies had already procured 33 lakh tonnes of wheat. The total quantity of unsold wheat lying across the state is just 3 lakh tons which is 40% of a single day’s arrival, showing thereby that the Mandi operations are going on very smoothly and more than 60% of the day’s arrival is being purchased on the same day itself, he added. The spokesperson reaffirmed the commitment of the State Government to ensure that the farmers’ produce is purchased on priority and due payments are credited into their bank accounts within 48 hours of purchase.
