90 per cent wheat fails to meet standard norms in Punjab
Chandigarh: The arrival of wheat at the procurement centres in Punjab has crossed the 100 lakh metric tonnes mark and nearly 90 per cent of the wheat procured so far has not met the procurement norms. So the yield of wheat is coming out well, due to which the farmers are in distress. Although the Central Government has imposed a value cut on the crop that does not meet the procurement criteria this time, the Punjab Government has started making up for it.
After the Haryana government, the Punjab government had also decided to meet the value cut.
According to the details, the Punjab government has so far paid around Rs 95 crore to the farmers as compensation for the value cut.
Government officials say that the government is making full payment of the commodity to the farmers, whether the value cut is less on the crop or more. A field official said that the procurement agencies charge less value cuts on their own, but the Food Corporation of India is converting it into a full value cut.
As a result, it is natural for the financial burden on the state government to increase. It may be recalled that the central government had relaxed the wheat procurement norms on April 12, but at the same time imposed a value cut.
The Centre had cut the value from Rs 5.31 to Rs 31.87 per quintal. Later, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that the state government would bear the burden.
In Punjab, wheat yield has been affected in the places where the rains have been hit the most, but in other places the yield of wheat is increasing more than last year.