Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 24
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today appealed to the Union Government to relax the specifications for shrivelled grain in the purchase of wheat in the state, without the imposition of any value cut, thereby protecting the income of the farmers who are already impacted by low yield and severe farm debt.
Week on, decision awaited
A week has passed since the central teams highlighted the extent of shrivelling of the grain, but no decision has been taken by the Union Government. Bhagwant Mann, CM
Mann said he had personally talked to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal and requested them to allow the relaxations based on the field data collected by the teams deputed by the Government of India.
The CM stressed farming issues were required to be resolved on a priority and the delay was impacting the procurement operations.
Mann said the AAP government was committed to buying every grain from the farmer. He said it was completely unfair to blame farmers and penalise them for shrivelling of the grain, as this is in nature’s hands and beyond the control of the farmer. Consequently, his government had expeditiously purchased the grain coming in the mandis, he said, while taking up the matter parallelly with the Government of India.
Referring to the glut in certain mandis, the Chief Minister said that it is primarily on account of FCI’s inability to accept shrivelled wheat from these mandis on account of non-finalisation of relaxation in norms, thereby choking the mandis and putting farmers and arhtiyas to inconvenience.
The CM added he was hopeful of an early positive outcome from the Union Government and thereafter lifting will improve drastically.
Relax shrivelled grain norms for purchase, CM urges Centre
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