High wheat arrivals, tardy lifting choke state mandis
Mandis overwhelmed as daily arrivals surpass 11 LMT for 2nd day. 49.53 LMT wheat unlifted. Transporter shortage blamed. Labour issues hinder grain cleaning, bagging. Farmers frustrated by delays, scarcity of gunny bags. Artificial scarcity alleged.
As daily arrivals in the mandis cross 11 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) for the second day today, 49.53 LMT of wheat is lying unlifted in the mandis. Only 23.09 LMT of wheat has been lifted from the 76.88 LMT of wheat that has arrived in the mandis so far.
While officials in the Food and Supply Department blame the glut in the mandis on the sudden high arrivals of the grain, information gathered from mandis reveals that other than the unprecedented high arrivals, many transporters allotted contracts for lifting the grains are short of vehicles and labour.
Vijay Kalra, president of the Federation of Arhtiya Association of Punjab, who held a meeting of all commission agents in Moga, said the transporters hired by the government could not arrange for trucks to carry the wheat from the mandis. “There are labour problems and the labour is refusing to clean the grains and fill these in bags. This is leading to a glut. In many places, especially in south Malwa, where mandis are located next to cremation grounds, farmers have started dumping the produce in the cremation grounds,” he said.
Param Singh, a farmer from Phumanwal village in Sangrur, told The Tribune that he had been waiting with his grain in the Kalajhar mandi for four days now. “Officials in the mandi say there are no gunny bags to fill the grains,” he rued.
Kalra said they were aware of artificial scarcity of gunny bags being created in some mandis close to silos to force farmers to take the grains to silos directly.
Source Link : https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/high-wheat-arrivals-tardy-lifting-choke-state-mandis-614981
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