To ensure smooth wheat procurement operations in State Mandis, Secretary Punjab Mandi Board and Director Food and Civil Supplies Ravi Bhagat today visited mandis in Rupnagar district and interacted with farmers and other stakeholders to enquire about their problems related to purchase, if any.After inspecting procurement arrangements in these Mandis, Mr. Bhagat said that in wake of COVID pandemic, it was a challenging task to gear up for procurement of wheat but by taking proper precautions like setting up hand wash station, earmarking of space to avoid chaos, proper sanitization of mandis, we had succeeded to start uninterrupted and safe operations of procurement at more than 4000 locations in Punjab.He said that so far district Rupnagar mandis witnessed an arrival of 27507 lakh MT Wheat and 27487 LMT has been purchased. He also revealed that in order to avoid chaos in Mandis, pass system was introduced during last year which is proving successful and so far. Mr. Bhagt also appealed the Arthiyas to refrain from hoarding of gunny bags, which is creating false perception in the minds of farmers.Reiterating commitment of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh of procuring every single grain of wheat, he said that procurement operations would continue till May 30 so as to enable farmers to bring their produce in Mandis in time.Mr. Bhagat also pointed out that if any of the stakeholders was facing any hardship related to procurement operations, they could contact their respective market committees and State Control Room setup at Mandi Board Headquarters, Mohali to get their issues and complaints addressed promptly.