Mandis filled to the brim with wheat, Punjab asks Centre to allow storage at FCI facilities
The Centre’s directions to Punjab to send procured wheat to consumer states directly through railways without storing has led to a glut-like situation in the mandis across the state with only one metric tonne of grain being transported daily.
About 10 lakh metric tonnes of wheat arrive in the mandis daily, with farmers harvesting it fast after a spell of inclement weather, including rains and winds.
With space in mandis being occupied to store wheat that is waiting to be transported, Punjab’s Food and Civil Supplies department has written to the Centre stating that it should at least allow the state to transport the bags to open plinths, taken on rent by Food Corporation of India (FCI), so that the mandi space could be freed and more input wheat could be accommodated.
Most of the large mandis in the state have a yard linked to the railway line. The grains are transported by special trains to consumer states. About 17-18 lakh metric tonnes of grains are transported every month. The wheat procured in local mandis is packed in gunny bags of 50 kg each. Later these bags are transported through the rakes (special trains for grains) to recipient states. Earlier, these bags were sent for storage to plinths or godowns.
Sources said that the Centre had asked the state not to send grains to plinths or godowns as it required additional transportation costs. The Centre has been working at cutting the cost of procurement. In Punjab, about Rs 80,000 crore is given by the Centre for procurement operations.
Punjab officials said that the issue of cutting costs had been raised several times in the meetings of state officials with the Centre over the procurement. The Centre’s proposal of cutting down the Rural Development Fund (RDF) from 3 to 2 per cent is also a step towards the same.
“The Centre may be saving money on transportation but when the mandis are filled to the brim, there is no place to keep the grains. As the harvesting operations are witnessed in this one month, the wheat lands up in the mandis in this month only. You can well imagine 10 lakh metric tonnes of wheat arriving in the mandis. It becomes impossible to handle so much. It is like a glut.,” said an official. The state is expecting a yield of 132 lakh metric tonnes of wheat this year despite the damage.
He added that the state had now written to the Centre. “What are we asking for? We want the Centre to allow us to transport the wheat at open plinths so that more grains can be unloaded in the mandis. The FCI has been paying rent for these plinths. Where is the problem then?” asked an official.
