LUDHIANA: On the directions of Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma, the Food Supply teams led by District Food and Supply controllers visited the grain markets on Sunday to ensure prompt purchase and seamless lifting.
On Sunday, DFSC Sukhwinder Singh Gill took stock of the various grain markets including Maherna Kalan and Latala grain markets and interacted with the farmers. He asked the officials of the procurement agencies to ensure the timely lifting of the procured stock as the now weather is clear and grains can be dried properly.
Reviewing the ongoing procurement season, Deputy Commissioner categorically said that any sort of inordinate delay in the procurement and lifting of grains was unwarranted, undesirable and intolerable.
He said that due to inclement weather in the last week, the lifting was hampered but now it was being accelerated with the food supply officials were camping in the grain markets to keep a close vigil on the procurement operations.
He said that the foolproof mechanism needed to be implemented for this procurement season so that farmers do not face any sort of inconvenience in the mandis.
The Deputy Commissioner also ordered the officials to take punitive action against any unscrupulous element, which harassed the farmers in grain markets.
He said that as compared to last year’s purchase of 2.71 lakh metric ton on April 24, 2020, in the current marketing season 6.44 lakh metric ton had been purchased. He said that the district was expecting the arrival of 9 lakh MT wheat this year.
He told that due to the ongoing situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration had been procuring the grains in 108 main grain markets and 124 temporary yards which have been created to decongest the markets.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the district administration was committed to ensuring that farmers do not face any sort of problem while selling their golden harvest in the grain markets across the district.