Crop loss due to rains: Central teams to visit Punjab today

Punjab News: Four central teams of the Union Food Ministry will take stock of the damage caused by unseasonal rains and hailstorm in Punjab on Friday. These teams have reached Chandigarh yesterday and will begin a joint tour with the state officials tomorrow.

Heavy rains have damaged the quality of wheat to such an extent that it is difficult for the crop to meet the central standards. The Punjab government has sought relaxation in central norms and procurement of crops without any cuts.
Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said in New Delhi that he will soon take a decision on relaxing the central standards of quality in view of crop loss in Punjab and Haryana. He said that damage has been detected in 16 districts of Punjab and some districts of Haryana and wheat production in these two states is expected to be affected. We will take a decision next week on relaxing the procurement norms after receiving the report of crop samples.
Union Food Secretary Chopra has remained tight-lipped about any cut in the government price for procurement of the crop. The Union Food Ministry has sent a letter to the Principal Secretary, Food and Supplies Department, Punjab, sending a list of eight officers of the Food Corporation of India who will collect wheat samples from tomorrow.
The samples will be sent by these teams to FCI’s regional laboratory and their reports will be sent to the union ministry soon.
Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, has written a letter to the Union Food Ministry yesterday apprising it of the affected wheat crop in Punjab and the financial condition of the farmers. He has raised the issue of declining yield of wheat and affecting the quality of the crop. The letter states that due to the rains, there is a high possibility of discoloration of the crop, breakdown of grains and luster loss.
The Punjab government has demanded that there should be no reduction in the price of procurement of the damaged crop and the Centre should consider the matter sympathetically due to this natural blow to the farmers of Punjab. If procurement stops in the state, there could be a lot of unrest among farmers.