Commission agents to start procuring for Central agency from today Bowing to the pressure exerted by the powerful lobby of commission agents,the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has decided to withdraw its directive to make direct payment to farmers in Punjab,Haryana and Chandigarh. Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar,who was in Chandigarh on Monday,had a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Food and Civil Supply Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon on the issues of last years stocks of PAU 201 variety of paddy that are yet to be lifted and the boycott of the FCI by arhtiyas over the direct payment issue. Demanding that the FCI should revert back to the system of paying farmers through them,the arhtiyas associations of Punjab,Haryana and Chandigarh were not purchasing paddy for the central food agency,even though the procurement process began on October 1. The FCI has so far been able to procure only a few hundred tonnes at Kapurthala on Sunday. A letter withdrawing the directive is likely to be issued by late Monday evening,FCI sources said. The directive was in violation of the Punjab State Marketing Act,which is also followed by Haryana and Chandigarh. It clearly spells out that the kacha arhtiya shall make payments to the seller through account payee cheque or by electronic transfer after the weighing is over and the buyer shall make payment to the arhtiya within two days. The Union minister has consented to the demand of the state government and we will start procuring for the FCI from tomorrow, said Punjab Arhitya Association president Ravinder Singh Cheema. Highlighting the issue of PAU 201,Badal told Pawar that nearly 20-22 lakh tonnes of the variety worth Rs 4,000 crore procured last year is still lying in the rice mills and it was worsening the acute storage crisis in the state. The state also expressed its inability to accept Pawars suggestion to export the rice to other countries.
