Punjab likely to face major food grain procurement crisis; CM Mann seeks meeting with Union Minister Joshi
Punjab faces a major foodgrain storage crisis, with 296 lakh tonnes stored against 180 lakh tonnes capacity ahead of Kharif procurement. The state has urged the Centre to evacuate 15 lakh tonnes monthly, warning procurement could be severely disrupted without immediate stock movement.
CHANDIGARH: Punjab might face one of its biggest procurement crises in recent years as over 296 lakh tonnes of food grain lie in the warehouses in the State against the total warehouse storage capacity of 180 lakh tonnes.
This has forced the procurement agencies to store grain not only in warehouses but also in rice mills and grain markets in the State.
With hardly two months left for the commencement of paddy procurement, it is estimated that nearly 180 lakh tonnes of paddy will arrive in grain markets (mandis) across the State, which will eventually lead to a yield of around 120 lakh tonnes of rice.
The storage crisis has heightened concerns as the State is expecting another bumper paddy crop this year. The AAP-led State government has sounded an alarm over an unprecedented storage crisis, prompting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to seek an urgent appointment with Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi to resolve the issue.
As per the data with the State Food Supplies Department, gathered between January and June last year, 58 lakh tonnes of rice and 61 lakh tonnes of wheat were moved from the State.
During the same six-month period this year, only 39 lakh tonnes of rice and 39.5 lakh tonnes of wheat were moved. In the last six months, the State has been dispatching only around five lakh tonnes of wheat and nearly six lakh tonnes of rice every month, around 35 per cent lower than the corresponding period last year.
According to official figures, of the 296 lakh tonnes of food grain lying in the State, the current stock comprises 153.5 lakh tonnes of rice and 119 lakh tonnes of wheat.
Besides this, 36 lakh tonnes of paddy from the previous procurement season is yet to be milled, which will eventually add another 24 lakh tonnes of rice to the existing stocks.
Sources said that the Union government has been stating that warehouses in consuming States are also heavily stocked; there is only limited scope for transferring additional food grain from Punjab.
Multiple meetings have taken place between officials of Punjab and the Central government in the past few months, but the issue remains unresolved.
In the coming days, procurement agencies could face severe logistical challenges in handling the new crop, potentially disrupting procurement operations across the grain markets in the State if present stocks are not dispatched.
A senior official in the Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department, on condition of anonymity, stated that CM Mann had informed Minister Joshi that procurement during the forthcoming kharif marketing season would be severely impacted unless the Central Government immediately move the foodgrains from Punjab to consuming States.
Notably, it has been requested that at least 15 lakh tonnes of food grains should be evacuated every month from the State, as at present, the lifting is very low, leaving no space to accommodate crop that comes in.
A response from the Centre is awaited as Mann has written to Joshi requesting his immediate intervention to ensure large-scale evacuation of food grain stocks from the State. He has also warned that the procurement operations of the State might face severe disruption if storage space is not created before the arrival of the new kharif crop from October 1.
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Source : The New Indian Express
