World Food Program to study Punjab wheat storage facility
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 May, 2022 10:06 AM
Chandigarh, May 4 (IANS) A team of the World Food Program (WFP) on Wednesday started a visit to Punjab to understand the process of procurement, testing and transportation of wheat to Afghanistan so that a similar procedure can be adopted by it.
State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the five-member team of Sandro Banal, Filippo Zunino, Stephanie Heard, Amit Wadhera and Shruti will be visiting Amritsar to take a first-hand assessment of how long term storage of wheat is undertaken in Punjab, without deterioration in its quality.
Terming the recognition by the WFP for preserving the foodgrain by the state a matter of pride, the minister said Punjab, the food bowl of the nation, has been feeding the nation and now the grain produced in Punjab is feeding people abroad also.
It was also creditable that the western nations are now looking towards India to study preservation techniques for foodgrains and it speaks volumes of the progress made by the government of Punjab in this regard, he added. Senior officials of the state government and the FCI will be accompanying the team, he said, while assuring full cooperation to the team.
In a separate communication by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Department of Food and Public Distribution of the government of India on April 27 it had been conveyed that "WFP is highly satisfied with the quality of 10,000 metric tons of wheat provided by India to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance".
This quantity of wheat had been moved from Punjab to Afghanistan via land route through Pakistan.
The transported wheat had been stored in PUNGRAIN steel silos of 50,000 metric tons capacity near Amritsar.
The ministry of external affairs organised the summit virtually on Thursday which was attended by the heads of all five Central Asian countries -- Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan.
Harcharan Bains, Principal Advisor to SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, shared documents pertaining to the reported abuse of the state intelligence wing by a private company, Movedek Politico. Bains said there are credible reports that the highest-ranked police officers of the state were asked to collaborate with the private company in intelligence gathering.
Two-time Member of Parliament and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann will be contesting from Dhuri in the February 20 polls in Punjab. The announcement was made by state affairs co in-charge Raghav Chadha in Mohali on Thursday.
The party alleged that family members of Charanjit Singh Channi, a leader of the Congress, are being targeted in order to create a perception and influence electors into believing that Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi through his family members and the Indian National Congress is involved in the allegations of money laundering.
A complaint against Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, had been sent to the investigating agencies in 2021 alleging fake companies being run by him. Prateek Yadav has a brother-in-law, Aman Singh Bisht, the younger brother of his wife Aparna Yadav.
National carrier Air India will commence normal operations to US from Friday, the airline said. On Tuesday, the national carrier said that it will not be able to operate a number of US-bound flights due to the deployment of 5G communications in the US.
