Punjab to double centres for wheat procurement: Bharat Bhushan Ashu

CHANDIGARH: Punjab food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said on Tuesday that the state government planned to follow last year’s model of spreading out wheat procurement drive and will stick to its stand of opposing the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) proposal on direct payment to farmers.
“For one, the Centre cannot have double standards on payment.On the one hand, they say that they will respect the APMC Act of states and allow existing mandis to continue; at the same time, they don’t want to acknowledge state laws. For years, payment has been made to farmers through arhtiyas (commission agents) under our APMC Act but now they want to change it. This is unfair,” Ashu told TOI.
“Chief minister Amarinder Singhji recently announced the state government’s objection to FCI’s plan. He also plans to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. A decision will now be taken at the highest level in coming days,” Ashu added.
Criticising the Centre for taking the arhtiyas out of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to farmers, Amarinder had last week said an attempt was being made to break age-old time-tested relationship between farmers and commission agents.
Even as plans for upcoming wheat procurement in the state were being finalised, Ashu said the food and supplies department planned to double the purchase centres from the existing 1,800 just like last year to carry out staggered procurement.
In view of a Covid spike in the state, the Punjab government will start wheat procurement from April 10. “There has been a sudden surge in number of Covid patients and the incidence happens to be more in the rural areas, where the entire procurement operation will take place. We have delayed the exercise by 10 days,” he added.
Ravinder Singh Cheema, president of the Arhtiyas Association of Punjab, said they had written to the chief minister on March 22, saying that Punjab should not yield to Centre’s pressure.
Two years ago, the Punjab government had directed all government procurement agencies to link bank accounts of farmers with the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) portal before the procurement of paddy begins. However, this had angered arhtiyas, which made the state government clarify they will continue to have a role in the online system and payments to farmers will be routed through them.
“PFMS system was deferred for two years but now the arhtiyas have uploaded a database of farmers on the portal. However, we are apprehensive that the entire strategy of the Centre is to monitor the loan repayment patterns of farmers. Eventually, they will be motivated to sell produce to private players and the gap with MSP will be credited through DBT as subsidy. As in the case of LGP, subsidy amount will only diminish with time,” said Cheema.
There are nearly 47,000 arhtiyas in Punjab who meet the needs of around 15 lakh farmers. For their services, arhtiyas claim 2.5% commission for auction and delivery of goods and 18% to 24% interest rate for money given on loan to farmers.