Paddy piles up in mandis

According to the government figures,till date,about 49.5 lakh metric tonnes have arrived at the mandis,out of which,48 lakh tonnnes has been purchased and no payment is due to the Ahrtiyas. “Nearly 45 lakh tonnnes of paddy has been purchased by government agencies. Out of these,30 lakh tonnes has been lifted and the rest will be lifted within three days,” said Guru.

Nand Kishore Gugan,president of Ahrtiya Association in Ferozepur,however,said: “Private shellers are sending their own vehicles to lift paddy from mandis,but no truck is coming to the city mandis of Punjab. While transportation charges are only Rs 5 per quintal in city mandis,it is up to 35 per quintal in focal point mandis. So,we are at the mercy of shellers and the truckers.”

According to sources,a number of shellers are also acting as Ahrtiyas and hence,picking their what they want from the mandis.

Ahrtiyas complained that according to rules,if lifting is not done within 72 hours,Ahrtiyas cannot be charged for any reduction in weight,which normally happens when the crop looses moisture. “But we are always charged by the government agencies for loss in weight even after 72 hours,” said one Ahrtiya.

Pvt purchase up 72 pc this season

Chandigarh: After declining consistently over the last few years,private purchase of paddy has picked up this procurement season in Punjab mandis. Nearly 5.26 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured by private traders in Punjab in the first 18 days of the season — up by 72 per cent against 3.05 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period last year.

The trend has reversed mainly on account of the Centre lifting the ban on export of non-basmati rice last month. Reeling under foodgrain storage crisis,the state government soon announced the export of 10 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice by allowing levy-free private buying. Private traders are otherwise bound to give 75 per cent of the rice out of their private purchase of paddy to the central pool. Private buying peaked in 2003-04 in Punjab when 40 lakh tonnes of paddy was lifted — almost half of the total procurement by state government agencies and Food Corporation of India. Thereafter,it registered a consistent decline in the wake of consistent revision of minimum support price of paddy that dissuaded millers from buying paddy through the levy route. In 2009-10,the total private purchase amounted to just 3.2 lakh tonnes.