Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has written to Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, seeking to revise paddy driage at two per cent from one per cent of the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
In his letter, the Chief Minister highlighted that such relaxation was warranted primarily due to the excessive, abnormal and untimely rains and hailstorm that occurred prior to harvesting period. The rains and hails adversely impacted the out-turn ratio, in turn causing problems in procurement of paddy due to the relatively high-moisture content.
The Chief Minister further apprised Paswan that higher moisture content in paddy arrivals in several mandis, coupled with dip in temperature due to unusual climatic conditions this year, had led to unrest amongst the millers and the farmers, which was hampering the paddy purchase operations.
Singh also informed the Minister that various procurement agencies across the state had so far procured 130 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current Kharif marketing season 2018-19, and requested him to issue necessary guidelines in this regard at the earliest, so as to ensure smooth procurement operations for paddy during the remainder of the Kharif season.
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