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.
Eyebrows were raised on Wednesday when a prominent pro-Khalistan separatist leader was present at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor and was also seen shaking hands with Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The Delhi High Court Wednesday upheld the conviction of 70 out of the 89 people who were awarded five-year jail term by a trial court for rioting, burning houses and violation of curfew during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
A gang of five fraudsters, including an Indian-origin accountant, who ran a fake Bangladeshi visa scam and falsely claimed nearly 13 million pounds in tax repayments have been sentenced to a total of 31 years in jail by a UK court.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was on Wednesday admitted to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here after he developed fever.
Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, Takht Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh and other high priests conducted a meeting at Akal Takht secretariat on Monday.
