Chandigarh: Ahead of the beginning of the wheat procurement season on April 1, the Punjab govt has approached the Food Corporation of India (FCI), seeking immediate permission for direct movement of 22 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of newly-procured wheat from mandis to railheads. The state govt warned of severe shortage of storage space and the risk of farmer unrest if the issue was not addressed.In a formal communication to the chairman/managing director of FCI, the state govt warned that failure to allow direct delivery could lead to a glut of wheat in mandis, potentially triggering a law and order situation and unrest among farmers and other stakeholders. The state has sought this logistical intervention to bypass overflowing warehouses across Punjab.To operationalise the direct delivery plan, the Punjab govt has demanded deployment of 860 special trains over the next two months to evacuate the surplus wheat that cannot be accommodated locally. This includes 409 special trains in April and 440 in May, with additional specials required in June.According to the state’s assessment, Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts face the most acute storage shortages. Tarn Taran has a storage gap of 2,54,012 metric tonnes, requiring 97 special trains, including 11 in June. Amritsar requires space for 2,08,000 metric tonnes, translating into a requirement of 80 special trains. Other districts flagged for significant evacuation needs include Patiala, which requires 90 specials, Muktsar with 68 specials, and Ferozepur with 62 specials.The department of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs has estimated that the state is likely to procure nearly 125 LMT of wheat during the upcoming season. However, it has acknowledged a shortfall of around 22 LMT in storage capacity across Punjab, despite what it described as the “best possible efforts” made by state procurement agencies to identify additional storage space.In its letter to the FCI, the department attributed the crisis to increased wheat procurement across the country combined with reduced demand from consuming states over the past two years. This, it said, has led to a slowdown in the liquidation of foodgrain stocks from Punjab, worsening the storage situation.The state govt cautioned that unless FCI takes direct delivery of the specified quantity of wheat from mandis, procurement operations could be disrupted. It urged the central agency to issue necessary instructions to its field officials to ensure smooth procurement and safe storage of foodgrains in the larger public interest.Punjab has also highlighted that while procurement has risen in several states, evacuation of older wheat stocks from Punjab has remained restricted. With the new procurement season approaching, the state has been pressing for faster lifting of pending stocks.Last month, a group of ministers reviewing procurement arrangements noted that although the FCI had been moving around 5 LMT wheat and 5 LMT rice per month since Aug 2025, this pace was inadequate to address the storage burden.The state raised similar concerns earlier as well. In Oct 2024, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had sought Union govt’s intervention, warning that rice millers were reluctant to store paddy because of overflowing warehouses. Mann had then emphasised the need to move at least 20 LMT of foodgrains each month to prevent system failure and avoid law and order problems, while also safeguarding farmers from hardship caused by delays in lifting their produce.MSID:: 129848731 413 |
