Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday asked the Department of Food & Civil Supplies to further expedite the process of liquidation/movement of the food grain stocks from the State so that no problem of storage of food grains arises in the coming seasons and procurement of grains takes place in a smooth and hassle free manner.
Chairing a high level meeting of the Food and Civil Supplies Department here at his official residence, the Chief Minister said that due to persistent shortage of storage space during the previous season, the procurement/lifting of grains from mandis was adversely affected.
He said that the State government is already in process of creating new covered godowns to store 60 Lakh Metric Ton of grains in the State in the coming few months. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that Punjab produces grain for the National food security and the State government is duty bound that the farmers of the state face no problem in selling of their grains during the procurement season.
The Chief Minister said that it is imperative to ensure that sufficient storage space is created to ensure that farmers do not face any sort of inconvenience. He said that the Government of India is being requested repeatedly to undertake maximum movement of wheat and rice from the State, so that sufficient storage space is available for rice of ongoing KMS as well as wheat during ensuing RMS 2025-26.
He said that during the KMS 2024-25, 171.86 LMT of paddy was stored in the State out of which 116.30 LMT of rice was deliverable. Till date, 33.74 LMT (29.02%) of the rice has been delivered and remaining 82.53 LMT has to be delivered by March 31, 2025.
For the month of February, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state had requested for 1635 rice specials but FCI has planned only 197 rice specials for the month of February and till date only 109 rice specials have been provided.
The Chief Minister said that these issues will be duly raised with the Union government in the coming days so that they are resolved at the earliest in the larger interest of the country. Meanwhile, he said that shortfall of space has been identified only in districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Patiala and Moga and all efforts are being made by district officials/field staff for alternative arrangements/ contingency plans.
Bhagwant Singh Mann reiterated the firm commitment of the State government to take every possible step for ensuring smooth and hassle free procurement and lifting of the grains in the coming procurement seasons too.