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.
Police in Jammu and Kashmir has shot a letter to Twitter asking for details of one of its accounts that has been spreading "rumours through his tweets very frequently which are leading to law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley".
A day after Patiala police arrested two women drug peddlers and seized heroin from their possession, investigations revealed that the jailed husband of one of the arrested women was running the drug network from the jail itself.
The Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of police, who was nabbed for drug peddling by the Special Task force (STF), committed suicide in police custody here on Tuesday.
Elangbam Valentina Devi, a Class V student, was appointed as ambassador after a video of her crying inconsolably on seeing the two trees planted by her being cut down went viral on social media.
