CHANDIGARH: Ahead of the paddy procurement season which started from October 1 Punjab is looming with severe shortage of space, The Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwat Singh Mann has urged the union government to urgently clear foodgrain stocks from the state before the peak arrival of paddy.
Currently the state has a backlog of 280 lakh tonnes of food grains occupying state godowns, rice mills and mandi yards.
Mann requested Centre stressing that adequate storage space must be ensured to facilitate smooth procurement and prevent any difficulties for farmers in mandis.
Pointing out that Punjab had repeatedly requested the Centre for adequate monthly movement of foodgrains. He added that the delay in milling was already causing unrest among millers might result in law and order problem. He said if rice delivery went beyond mid-October, millers might not come forward for storage and milling of paddy, which could result in unrest among other stakeholders, especially farmers.
In a letter to Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi, CM Mann sought immediate movement of 6 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice by October 10 and 15 LMT of wheat during October point out that nearly 40 LMT of wheat stocks were occupying space at rice mills and mandi yards with around 17 LMT still lying there. He stressed that these stocks must be cleared to create adequate space for incoming paddy and ensure that farmers can bring their produce to mandis without facing storage-related hurdles.
CM Mann said Punjab had requested the movement of 15 LMT of rice and 10-12 LMT of wheat during September 2026 to complete the delivery of rice from the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2025-26 and clear wheat stocks lying in rice mills and mandi yards before the start of KMS 2026-27.
"However, only 8.3 LMT of rice and 4.3 LMT of wheat have been moved out of the state from September 1 to 29, 2026," he said.
Mann further said that due to persistent shortage of storage space with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), only 99.50 LMTs (94 per cent) custom milled rice of kharif marketing season (KMS) 2025-26 could be delivered till September 29 against the due quantity of 105.64 LMT and nearly 6 LMTs is still balance to be delivered.
"With the next kharif marketing season having commenced and peak arrivals expected around October 10, delivery of all pending rice to the FCI by then is of paramount importance so as to avoid carry-over of balance paddy stocks in the next kharif season and also to prevent complications in stock accounting and recycling of paddy, rice," he said.
Mann further stated that due to shortage of space for storage of wheat in the state, nearly 40 LMT wheat stocks procured during RMS 2026-27 were stored at rice mills and mandi yards with the premise that these stocks would be moved by September or October mid-2026. However, due to much slow pace of liquidation of wheat from the state from June to September 2026, nearly 17 LMT wheat of RMS 2026-27 is still lying in rice mills and mandi yards as on date, he said.
He cautioned that if these wheat stocks were not moved, as a natural consequence, it would prevent farmers from unloading their produce in mandis while there would not be enough space in the rice mills for storage of paddy, which would disrupt smooth procurement operations. "Such a scenario may lead to a law and order situation in the state at the time of peak arrivals of paddy during KMS 2026-27," he said.
