Chandigarh, September 12:
Exhorting the officers and employees of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to burn midnight oil in view of the upcoming Paddy procurement season, the Minister Incharge Lal Chand Kataruchak averred that considering the flood situation in the State, attention must be paid to ensure adequate medical facilities in the mandis falling in the flood ravaged areas.
The Minister was apprised during a review meeting at Anaj Bhawan with top brass of the department and video conferencing with the DFSCs that arrangements are being made for the procurement of 190 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of Paddy while the target fixed by the Department of Food Production and Distribution, Government of India is 173.13 LMT.
The number of rice mills in the State stands at 5049 while the Minimum Support Price (MSP) has fixed at Rs. 2389 Per Quintal.
Furthermore, as part of its strenuous efforts to ensure ample storage space for storing of rice, the State Government is regularly taking up the issue with the FCI/Government of India for movement of atleast 10 LMT of wheat per month for the next 3 months. Also the Custom Milling Policy 2025 – 26 has been notified on September 8th, 2025 and the process of allotment of rice mills & linking of rice mills with mandis is underway.
It was also brought to the notice of the Minister that the Punjab Mandi Board has notified 1823 regular purchase centers for procuring of paddy in this season.
As far as the Cash Credit Limit (CCL) is concerned, the CCL to the tune of Rs. 49, 987 Crore is required. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted authorization of Rs. 15,018 crore for the month of September 2025. The balance limit would be granted in the last week of September.
Besides, the e-KYC of 1.30 Crore beneficiaries of free ration scheme has been completed. As regards the Gunny Bales, as many as 4.21 Lakh bales have been received by Punjab while 39000 are in transit from Kolkata. Apart from this, 60000 gunny bales from previous seasons are also available. Further, supply of 47500 Tarpaulins is also in the pipeline.
Among others present on the occasion included the Director Barinder Kumar Sharma, Additional Secretary PUNGRAIN Kamal Kumar Garg, Additional Director Dr. Anjuman Bhaskar & Ajayveer Singh Sarao and GM (Finance) Sarvesh Sharma.
