Uttar Pradesh : Pilibhit revenue officer Ritu Punia participates in wheat harvest to promote government sales
In Pilibhit, ADM Ritu Punia joined farmers in harvesting wheat to boost trust in government procurement. Her hands-on approach promoted a doorstep procurement scheme for farmers with 100+ quintals. A lottery rewarded participating farmers, while a Shabri Canteen offered affordable meals. The district targets 1.15 lakh MT of wheat procurement through 138 centers, despite higher open market rates.
PILIBHIT: In a unique initiative to strengthen the bond between farmers and the administration, Ritu Punia, Additional district magistrate (Finance and Revenue) of Pilibhit, took to the fields on Wednesday to manually harvest wheat alongside marginal farmers. Her aim was to motivate them to sell their crop at govt procurement centres rather than to private buyers who often manipulate prices. During her visit to six villages under Puranpur tehsil, Punia used a scythe to harvest wheat with the farmers, underscoring the administration’s commitment to their welfare.“My manual exercise, which was imbued with the sweat of farmers, was aimed at impressing upon them that the district administration was an integral part of their agricultural life rather than a body to rule them,” Punia said.This hands-on gesture was also part of a broader effort to promote the state govt’s new initiative offering doorstep wheat procurement—available to farmers with a minimum yield of 100 quintals. The scheme is designed to reduce transportation costs and effort for the farming community.
Punia also appealed to farmers to support the govt’s wheat procurement targets, assuring them of payment within 72 hours of sale. For the first time, the district administration launched a three-tier motivational system to maximise participation. Under this approach, field teams from the revenue, marketing, and cooperative departments are reaching out to farmers individually, explaining the advantages of selling their produce to the govt.In another new scheme sponsored by the state govt, the district magistrate, Sanjay Kumar Singh, gave away prizes to farmers through a lottery draw. The prizes included a tractor, rotavator, round straw baler, happy seeder machine, and a mulcher under the farmer gift scheme.“This scheme has been launched by the state govt to maximise the participation of farmers in the govt procurement drive. The farmers bringing their produce to Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) are eligible to participate in this scheme against a gift coupon costing Rs 500,” said the DM.The DM also inaugurated a Shabri Canteen for farmers at APMC on Wednesday and took lunch with them. This canteen would provide quality food to farmers at a nominal price.
Meanwhile, the district food and marketing officer, VK Shukla, said that the district was assigned to procure 1.15 lakh metric tons of wheat this year, which was lower than the previous year’s target of 2.8 lakh MT. “The district administration has opened 138 procurement centres of 7 govt agencies across the district to provide the facility of procuring wheat at a minimum support price worth Rs 2425 per quintal,” he said.By the end of April 8, as many as 17,611 farmers registered with the govt portal for selling wheat at procurement centres. The district physically initiated the wheat procurement on March 31 and procured 2,600 MT of wheat till the closing of April 7, he said.The administrative officials are striving hard to attract farmers towards the procurement centres, especially because the wheat rate in the open market this year is higher by Rs 50 to 75 per quintal over the MSP of Rs 2425.
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Source : The Times Of India
