Central Teams Survey 17 Punjab Districts To Assess Shrivelled Wheat Grain

Chandigarh,  The central teams formed to assess shrivelled wheat grain due to the early onset of heat wave have surveyed 17 Punjab districts till Friday, and will cover the remaining six district on Saturday.

The central government had on Tuesday formed five teams to assess the crop losses before setting the guidelines for procurement agencies for the current marketing season.

“The teams have already surveyed 17 districts, and it is expected that the remaining six districts would be covered tomorrow,”a spokesperson of the state government said on Friday here.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said that the procurement process continued on Friday.

He said on Saturday the state government will transfer more than Rs 2,000 crore into farmers’ bank accounts after purchasing wheat from them at minimum support price.

So far, Rs 828 crore has already been transferred to farmers’ accounts during the ongoing rabi procurement season beginning April 1.

The spokesperson said that wheat arrivals were picking up in the state with more than 8.2 lakh tonnes of crop arriving on April 15.

So far 36 lakh tonnes of wheat had arrived in the mandis and the state procurement agencies had already procured 33 lakh tonnes of crop, he added. PTI