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.
The leaders have been demanding the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra in connection with the death of farmers during the violence. Sidhu threatened to go on hunger strike if action is not taken against the minister's son by Friday.
The ministry said that all due protocols and norms relating to Covid-19, as notified by the Union Health Ministry from time to time, shall be adhered to by the foreign tourists, the carriers bringing them to India and all other stakeholders at the landing stations.
Tamil Nadu farmers association Deputy Secretary, P.S. Masilamani, who had participated in the farmers' agitation in New Delhi, told IANS that the farmers of Cauvery delta are "disturbed and outraged by the mowing down of fellow farmers and we are conducting peaceful protest marches in solidarity with the farmers of Lakhimpur Kheri."
A total of 28 civilians have been killed by terrorists in Kashmir in 2021, IG Kashmir Vijay Kumar said in a statement on Thursday. The statement further said that in all such cases, the terrorists used pistols.
Farmers allege that the minister's son was in one of the cars that mowed the farmers. Ashish has been named in the FIR lodged in connection with the incident under IPC Section 302 (murder).
Fortunately, no one is injured in the incident, which was the fourth such case in Bengaluru in the last 15 days. The families who lived in the apartment managed to escape as soon as they got the first indication.
