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.
Senior IPS officers Samant Kumar Goel and Arvind Kumar were appointed chiefs of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), respectively, on Wednesday.
Mitali Chandola had received bullet injury in her arm when she was shot at allegedly by two masked men in east Delhi's New Ashok Nagar area in a suspected case of family dispute.
Walmart Inc, in May last year, had announced that it is buying 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for about USD 16 billion (Rs 1.05 lakh crore), its biggest deal that gave the US retailer access to the Indian e-commerce market.
