All preparations are in place for wheat procurement in Patiala which is set to start from Wednesday.
To avoid rush of farmers at purchasing centres, the administration has issued over 6,500 coupons to them so far and added 180 additional purchasing centres to ensure that precautions and protocol related to Covid-19 are followed.
At least 2.34 lakh hectare is under wheat cultivation and the agriculture department is expecting production of over 9.41 lakh MT wheat this time against last year’s 9.5 lakh MT.
Patiala deputy commissioner Kumar Amit chaired a high level meeting with officials concerned to review the preparations.
The DC said that the district mandi board has started issuing coupons and farmers will be allowed to bring one trolley of wheat yield using the coupon.
“Only farmers with hologram coupons will be allowed to enter the purchasing centres. The sub-divisional officers have been directed to shift their offices to market committee premises to ensure hassle-free operations,” he said.
Around 290 purchasing centres — 110 main grain markets and 180 new purchasing centres — have been set up across district.
The DC has directed officials of mandi board, food and civil supplies, transport and purchasing agencies to not show any laxity.
“Officials and farmers have been directed to follow social distancing,” he said. Officials are to coordinate with banks for direct and quick payment to farmers and commission agents.
