In record, Punjab makes payments of Rs 13K cr for wheat procurement
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Apr, 2022 10:11 AM
Chandigarh, April 25 (IANS) In a record, the Punjab Government said it cleared payments of Rs 13,000 crore of farmers for procurement of wheat till Monday, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said.
He said this was the highest payment in the past decade.
The minister said the total minimum support price (MSP) payments released this year were three times of what was paid last year (Rs 4,754.42 crore) by this date.
"The record breaking figures are a result of the meticulous arrangements made by the state government in the mandis on the strict directions of the Chief Minister," said the minister, adding the government is committed to farmers' welfare.
Responding to the question of Samajwadi Party Member Rewati Raman Singh, the Minister of State, Health, Bharati Pawar said that altogether, 22 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are being set up in the country. Out of 10 proposed in the first phase, six have started functioning with all departments.
Along with this, the party has also started a digital membership campaign. This was announced on Sunday at the workers' conference in Jaipur. The AAP announced fresh beginnings for the election preparations from this conference.
Making an announcement in a video message, he said the Aam Aadmi Party government's scheme is aimed at providing good quality ration 'atta' (wheat flour) and 'daal' (pulses) to the people packed in clean gunny bags.
About 105.14 lakh farmers have been benefited with an MSP value of Rs 1,45,358.13 crore, government data showed. Apart from Punjab (1,87,28,335 MT) and Chhattisgarh (92,01,000 MT), the other top paddy procurement states included Telangana (70,22,000 MT), Uttar Pradesh (65,53,029 MT) Odisha (57,16,134), Haryana (55,30,596), Madhya Pradesh (45,82,610), and Bihar (44,90,319 MT).
The bank employees organised demonstrations, sit-in protests, processions and rallies near their workplaces in different cities and towns protesting against the privatisation of banks undertaken by the Centre.
While complimenting the enforcement officers, he said their hands-on approach has led to large number of seizures in the state of fake and smuggled goods. He was speaking at an interactive session by FICCI CASCADE on the 'Strategies' to combat smuggling and counterfeiting, here.