Chandigarh, April 11 (IANS) As the wheat arrivals surge across agrarian state Punjab, the total purchase of wheat has created a record in five years, officials said on Monday.
Government agencies have procured 4.3 lakh metric tons of wheat till April 10, against the earlier highest peak of 38,019 metric tons in 2018.
An official told IANS this year the government has ensured that minimum support price (MSP) payments of Rs 138 crore transferred directly into bank accounts of farmers, whereas the earlier high was Rs 6.5 crore in year 2017.
Terming the record-breaking figures a result of the good arrangements, he said the state government was committed to welfare of the farmers and would continue to take all possible steps to facilitate them.
The Central government has fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 2,015 per quintal.
The government aims to purchase 132 lakh tonnes of wheat this season. The procurement of wheat, which began on April 1, will continue till May 31.
Addressing an event marking Rajiv Gandhi’s 75th birth anniversary, she also said the challenges facing the Congress were formidable, but it must continue with its ideological struggle against divisive forces.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking the country’s highest civilian honour—the Bharat Ratna—for hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr.
A man was arrested by the CISF after he scaled a wall of the Mumbai airport on Thursday and walked up to a SpiceJet plane on the runway that was readying for takeoff, a senior official of the aviation regulator DGCA said.
Pakistan is planning to push 100 hardcore terrorists from Afghanistan into Kashmir to carry out attacks as part of its “larger design” to create unrest in the Valley, security sources said on Thursday.
