Efforts to remove 40 lakh tons of rice from Punjab's godowns

04-Nov-2024 05:50 PM

Ludhiana. There is a huge stock of rice and wheat in the godowns of Punjab, the state which contributes the most food grains to the central pool, and if it is not removed from there as soon as possible and taken to safe places, then there may be great difficulty in storing the rice produced from the milling of paddy being purchased in the current Kharif marketing season.

According to a leading analyst, although the government is trying to reduce the stock there, but sending about 40 lakh tons of rice to other states of the country through railway racks in the next few weeks is not an easy task.

The central government has set a target of purchasing 124 lakh tons of rice (185 lakh tons of paddy) in Punjab during the current Kharif marketing season, but in view of the limited storage facility, the pace of paddy purchase has been slowed down there.

Space for storing the next crop was already getting vacant in the godowns, but the Food Corporation of India and the Central Food Ministry did not pay any attention to this.

Although the government has completely opened the import of whole rice of all varieties and categories and no duty is applicable on it, it is unlikely that this will have any significant impact on government procurement.

The minimum support price (MSP) of paddy has been fixed at Rs 2300 per quintal for the general category and Rs 2320 per quintal for 'A' grade and government procurement is being done at this price level.