Old bags may trigger new trouble

The department has asked the procurement agencies to use 50 per cent of the old gunny bags this season. Notably, the bags used during the wheat procurement were below the standards set by the government. As highlighted by The Indian Express on April 30, the gunny bags that made way into the mandis weighed 500 grams as against the standard weight of 655 grams. This means, a farmer was not being paid a single penny for 155 grams of wheat.

The loss to the farmers which was about Rs 2 crore for wheat would be much more this time, as against the 90 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procured in Punjab, the figure for paddy is around 144 lakh metric tonnes. Simple calculations show that as paddy is packed in a 35-kilogram gunny bag, a farmer stands to lose Rs 40 for each tonne.

8220;I have asked farmers to weigh the gunny bags before they sell their crop,8221; said Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board.

8220;We will sell by the actual weight. I don8217;t want the farmers to lose money,8221; he added. 8220;Procurement will pick up in a day or two and our teams will personally weigh the bags. The procuring agencies will be challaned in case of any discrepancy,8221; he said.

Meanwhile, Director, Food and Civil Supplies, SP Singh said, 8220;These are the orders from the Government of India. We are not forcing the agencies to use the old bags. They have a choice to use new ones.8221;

However, shortage of gunny bags has always been a problem for the procurement agencies. A senior FCI official said, 8220;The bags should be as per the guidelines laid down by the Director of Quality and Assurance, Kolkata, which has the provision for recalling bags which fall short of these specifications. However still, each year, old bags come in circulation.8221;