Chandigarh, October 15: Paddy procurement in Punjab crossed 44 Lac tonnes mark in Punjab with Mandis of Forozepur division maintaining its lead. According to an official spokesman by Tuesday, Paddy procurement by six government agencies and traders reached 43,94,899 tonnes in Punjab. He said that PUNGRAIN procured 10,38,176 tonnes of paddy (26.4%) whereas MARKFED procured 9,13,295 tonnes of paddy (23.2%).
PUNSUP procured 9,12,884 tonnes of paddy (23.2%) whereas Punjab State Warehousing Corporation procured 5, 27,115 tonnes of paddy (13.4%) besides 4,94,909 tonnes of paddy (12.6%) procured by Punjab Agro. The Central Government Agency FCI procured only 52,998 tonnes of paddy (1.3%). The Millers procured 4, 55,522 tonnes of paddy (10.4 %) by Tuesday.
The mandis in Amritsar Division recorded 14,66,327 tonnes of paddy with Kapurthala recording maximum paddy by Tuesday to the tune of 3, 42,316 tonnes. The mandis of Ferozepur division recorded 22,56,862 tonnes of paddy with maximum of 8,55,269 tonnes of paddy being recorded by Ferozepur district.
The spokesman said that six government agencies have paid over Rs. 2391.70 crores for paddy procured by agencies during first 15 days of current Kharif Marketing Season.
The spokesman said that farmers of the State are being made payment of paddy procured by the government agencies within 48 hours of lifting of paddy from the procurement centres.
The Punjab Food Supply had setup 1622 procurement centres throughout the state to ensure smooth procurement of paddy.