In a major reprieve to the millers and Aarthias of the state, the Union government on Monday acceded to majority of demands raised by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann during a meeting with Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister.
The Chief Minister, who called on Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Parhlad Joshi, apprised him that procurement of paddy is like a festival in the state. He said that the economy of the state depends on this season and it is also important for ensuring food security in the country. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that during the ongoing KMS 24-25, 185 LMT paddy is expected to be procured in the State and 125 LMT of Fortified rice is likely to be delivered.
However, the Chief Minister said that due to persistent shortage of storage space during previous season and availability of only about 7 Lakh MT storage space as on date, there is resentment amongst the rice millers of the State for carrying out milling. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that this is adversely affecting the procurement/lifting of paddy from mandis thus leading to resentment amongst farmers. Therefore, he urged Parhlad Joshi to ensure smooth procurement operations, movement/ thereby ensuring liquidation of at-least 20 LMT foodgrains per month from the State till March 31, 2025 by augmenting movement plan under OMSS/Ethanol allocation/Export/Welfare Schemes and others.
Responding to issues raised by the Chief Minister, Joshi agreed to transport 120 lakh metric ton paddy from outside the state by March 2025.
Flagging the issue of payment of Transportation Charges to Millers for delivery of Rice, the Chief Minister said that due to non-availability of storage space at the linked milling centers, many a times, the FCI offers space to the millers to deliver rice at their depots which are in majority of the cases located at a distance ranging from 50-100 Kms. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that sometimes such depots are even located outside the State, which puts extra financial burden on the miller in terms of cost of over-transportation. He said that such costs are neither envisaged nor incorporated in the bilateral agreement between the miller and the SPAs.
The Chief Minister said that as such, there is merit in their demand for compensating them with reimbursement of extra transportation cost so incurred in the process of delivery of rice to FCI depots. He requested the Union Minister that in order to ensure fair play for the millers and encourage them adding that transportation charges for actual distance travelled for delivery of rice be reimbursed to the milers without any deduction of backward charges and others. Replying to the issue the Union Minister assured Bhagwant Mann that centre will bear the transportation cost incurred by millers in this regard.
Flagging the issue of Driage in paddy, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the driage in paddy was allowed @ 1% of MSP since decades which was reduced to 0.5% of MSP during last season unilaterally by the DFPD in the PCS issued for KMS 23-24 without any discussion/scientific study in this regard. The Chief Minister said that this has resulted in undue financial losses to the rice millers, who were already under financial strain due to space crunch adding that it has aggravated resentment amongst them. Further, he said that as the previous milling season had extended beyond March 31 due to space crunch, it resulted in more losses on account of driage/weight loss/discoloration of paddy due to hot weather conditions prevailing from April to July 24. Therefore, Bhagwant Singh Mann urged that the Driage may be restored to 1% of MSP as was prior to KMS 23-24 and further adequate compensation may be allowed to millers for delivery after March 31 where the moisture content in CMR/FR delivered to FCI was less than 14%.
On the issue of Driage, the Union Minister said that the centre was already getting a study conducted on it at IIT Kharagpur adding that Punjab’s view point will also be made a part of this study.
Raising the issue of Out-Turn Ratio of hybrid varieties of paddy, the Chief Minister said that Out-turn Ratio for Grade A paddy has been fixed at 67% by the GOI. He said that Considering the significant water consumption associated with traditional varieties of Grade A paddy, the State has promoted cultivation of certain hybrid varieties in the State. Bhagwant Singh Mann apprised the Union Minister that these varieties are less water consuming and have shorter duration with higher yield thus contributing towards increase in farmers earnings.
However, the Chief Minister said that millers have informed that the OTR of these varieties is lesser than 67% and needs to be re-assessed adding he requested the Union Minister to depute the Central teams to study the OTR of these varieties of paddy. Meanwhile, the Union Minister appreciated the Punjab government for taking out of the box initiative of introducing less water guzzling varieties of paddy. He assured fulsome support and cooperation to the state government for promotion of more such varieties.
Raising another issue, the Chief Minister vehemently pleaded the Allowance of Commission to Arhtias as per the Punjab APMC Act. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the commission being paid to the Arhtias has not been increased since the last five years/2019-20 whereas their expenses have increased manifold over these years. He said that while the MSP of crops is increased every year by the GOI, the arhtias are being paid commission @ Rs 45.38 to 46/- per quintal only since 2019-20, despite the fact that the Punjab State Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act, Rules, Bye-laws provide for a commission of 2.5% on MSP, which comes out to be Rs58/- per quintal in the current Kharif season.
The Chief Minister said that it is pertinent to mention that despite challenges in procurement during the last four years, like COVID 19 pandemic, shortage of labour, weather disturbances during the season and quicker pace of arrival in mandis due to mechanical harvesting, the Arhtias have been ensuring smooth procurement of foodgrains under Central pool. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the State has contributed 45-50% of wheat in Central pool every year since last three years and thus contributed towards Food security of the Nation. He said that This has helped maintain wheat buffer stocks, control prices of wheat and atta in open market and also curb inflation.
The Chief Minister said that there is huge resentment amongst the arthias at the ground level due to no increase in their commission since many years. Bhagwant Singh Mann urged the Union Minister to ensure that the commission of arthias is allowed @ 2.5% of MSP. The Union Minister also assured Bhagwant Singh Mann that centre will sympathetically consider this demand of the state government and Arthias in its next meeting.