The Punjab government has streamlined the policy for allotment of mandis and storage of paddy for ensuing Kharif marketing in season for smooth procurement of paddy and also to check pilferage and other malpractices.
Accroding to an official spokesman, instructions have been issued by Food and Supplies Department to ensure that the purchase centres should be linked with the nearest milling centre or storage centre.
This should be done keeping in view the availability of milling capacity at the milling centre at which paddy is proposed to be stored/got milled, he said.
The spokesman said that all the procuring agencies have been directed to make necessary arrangements of linking the proposed purchase centres/mandis with the storage points/milling centres in such a way so as to incur bare minimum expenditure on transportation.
He said that the agencies had been asked to indicate at least one alternate storage point, where paddy could be stored in case of any exigency.
This should be preferably got done by the agencies at the time of allotment of rice mills, he added.
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He said that the storage of paddy at a particular milling centre would depend upon the clear and specific milling capacity available at that centre.
The spokesman clarified that a temporary purchase centre would operate only during the procurement period and no permanent staff of the procurement agency be posted their round the year.