Six government agencies and private millers in Punjab have procured more than 101.96 lakh tonne of wheat against 74.33 lakh tonne procured till date last year recording a growth of over 37% than last year.
According to an official spokesman, out of 1,01,96,983 tonne procured till date which 96,17,394 tonne (94.3%) has been procured for the central pool and 2,87,286 tonne (2.8%) for the state pool whereas traders lifted 2,92.303 tonne of wheat.
Ferozepur district with 11,89,471 tonne of procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas Sangrur district with 9,46,872 tonne of procurement was at second slot and Ludhiana district with 8,43,006 tonne of procurement ranked at third position.
The Punjab government allocated more than Rs 11316 crore to the agencies for making payment to the farmers for wheat procured upto May 12, 2008 ensuring payment to the farmers within 48 hours of lifting of their wheat. The state government has set up over 1,623 procurement centres and activated its total machinery to ensure smooth procurement of wheat.