World Food Program to study Punjab wheat storage facility
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 May, 2022 10:06 AM
Chandigarh, May 4 (IANS) A team of the World Food Program (WFP) on Wednesday started a visit to Punjab to understand the process of procurement, testing and transportation of wheat to Afghanistan so that a similar procedure can be adopted by it.
State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the five-member team of Sandro Banal, Filippo Zunino, Stephanie Heard, Amit Wadhera and Shruti will be visiting Amritsar to take a first-hand assessment of how long term storage of wheat is undertaken in Punjab, without deterioration in its quality.
Terming the recognition by the WFP for preserving the foodgrain by the state a matter of pride, the minister said Punjab, the food bowl of the nation, has been feeding the nation and now the grain produced in Punjab is feeding people abroad also.
It was also creditable that the western nations are now looking towards India to study preservation techniques for foodgrains and it speaks volumes of the progress made by the government of Punjab in this regard, he added. Senior officials of the state government and the FCI will be accompanying the team, he said, while assuring full cooperation to the team.
In a separate communication by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Department of Food and Public Distribution of the government of India on April 27 it had been conveyed that "WFP is highly satisfied with the quality of 10,000 metric tons of wheat provided by India to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance".
This quantity of wheat had been moved from Punjab to Afghanistan via land route through Pakistan.
The transported wheat had been stored in PUNGRAIN steel silos of 50,000 metric tons capacity near Amritsar.
The Shahpurkandi dam project will reduce the outflow of the Ravi river water to Pakistan once it is completed, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said.
The three women officers said the police department is working towards ensuring that women can walk freely on Delhi roads, irrespective of which hour of the day they are stepping out.
The AAP's Punjab unit leaders, led by state president Bhagwant Mann, have been holding parleys with leaders of the recently formed Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) but both sides have not been able to announce a formal alliance so far.
With Punjab government employees on strike in support of their demands, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday promised employees that his government would implement the decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers on Employees' Issues in letter and spirit.
Islamabad also said it is shuttering institutions that belong to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a designated terrorist group that is an alias for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Mumbai-born tycoons David and Simon Reuben on Thursday emerged as the second richest on a new list of Britain's Tax Haven Elite, who declare in company filings that they are usually resident in low-tax jurisdictions around the world.
