Punjab seeks relaxation wheat procurement norms

Punjab today sought relaxation in wheat procurement norms from the Centre to enable farmers sell their produce.
"We have sought relaxation from Centre in wheat procurement norms up to the maximum permissible limit as per sample report of FCI," a senior official of Punjab Food and Civil Supplies department said here today.
Food Corporation of India today sent its report of wheat samples collected from 85 mandis across the state and UT Chandigarh to the Centre, detailing about damage content, shrivelled and broken grains and lustre loss.
The Centre has relaxed quality norms for procurement of wheat in Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Food Ministry has reduced the value cut for shrivelled and broken grains on the requests received from these four states.
Earlier, the Punjab government had pointed out to the Centre that while deciding about wheat relaxation, the interest of farmers should not be "compromised at any cost".
The state government had also expressed reservation against imposing value cut by the Centre for giving relaxation in wheat procurement norms.
Punjab had projected damage caused to standing crops due to hailstorm and heavy rains in February-March, 2015 in 2,94,177 hectares, the release said.