Punjab releases Rs 2,612.50 crore for payment towards wheat procurement

CHANDIGARH: Punjab on Friday released Rs 2,612.50 crore to pay for wheat procured during the current rabi marketing season, offering relief to farmers who were worried about payments because of central bank curbs on cash credit limit meant for food grain purchase.

The Akali Dal-BJP coalition government was in a spot of bother after the Reserve Bank of India held back the credit. The RBI had also told banks to make provisions against loans given to Punjab for purchase of grains, suspecting large shortages in the grains bought. The state had refuted it, maintaining that the costs showed were the actuals for procurement, storage and transportation of grains.

Farmers were awaiting lifting of their wheat from mandis as the procurement process was delayed due to the debacle. On Wednesday, much to the relief of the Punjab government, the RBI sanctioned a cash credit limit of Rs 17,523 crore for wheat procurement.

While announcing that issue of payments to farmers has been resolved, Punjab Food and Civil Supply Minister Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon said all transactions have been electronically documented and payments have been disbursed. He said from Friday, transactions would be done regularly and that the pending payments would be cleared within two days.

So far, 66.55 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured in the state, the minister said. Of this, government agencies bought 65.62 lakh tonnes. The government would ensure that every grain is lifted during the current procurement operations, he said.

The minister assured farmers that with the approval of the cash credit limit , farmers would be paid for their crop within 48 hours of procurement.