Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 3

With wheat procurement touching an all-time high, the Centre today said the issue regarding unscientific storage of the grain, mainly in Punjab and Haryana, would be resolved by July-end.

‘100% scientific storage by July-end’

• “In two months by July-end, it will be 100 per cent scientific storage across the country, including Punjab and Haryana,” FCI CMD Atish Chandra said
• As per the Centre, as many as 44.43 lakh farmers have benefited from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with an MSP value of Rs81,196.20 crore
• For wheat procurement, Rs76,055.71 crore has been transferred to farmers
• Paddy procurement reached nearly 800 lakh tonnes till June 2, setting a new record
• About Rs1.38 lakh crore has been transferred into the bank accounts of paddy farmers

“In two months (July-end) it will be 100 per cent scientific storage across the country, including Punjab and Haryana,” FCI CMD Atish Chandra said. Of the total wheat, 411.12 LMT, purchased till June 2, Punjab has contributed 132.27 LMT (32.17 per cent), which is an all-time high, Haryana 84.93 LMT (20.65 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh 128.08 LMT (31.15 per cent). Chandra said close to 97 per cent of this grain was under scientific storage.

Being key producers, Punjab and Haryana “face a temporary issue of unscientific storage for a few days. “Around 3.5 per cent of the grain is under temporary storage, all in Punjab and Haryana,” he said.

“Punjab and Haryana see a great volume of offloading in a short span of time, unlike other grain-producing states. This is temporary storage, and in the first instance, the grain is moved to a place where it is safe. It is a small quantity compared to the amount of grain storage. “The issue is going to be resolved before July-end to make it 100 per cent scientific storage across the country, including in Punjab and Haryana,” Chandra said. Grains under unscientific storage include around 19.6 LMT in Punjab and 9.4 LMT in Haryana, around 29 LMT (3.5 per cent) of the 880 LMT in all, according to the FCI CMD.

Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said the previous record for wheat procurement was 389.92 lakh tonnes last year. “We have revised the target to 432.5 lakh tonnes,” he said.