As the entire country looks to Punjab for its food security during the lockdown, the state government is set to test its efficacy in foodgrain procurement, albeit under the watchful eye of the police.
The exercise to allow farmers to harvest and then procure almost 137 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat, being launched by the state government from April 15, will be unprecedented.
A never before seen size of government officials, cutting across multiple departments, will be ensuring that all social distancing norms are followed as this massive exercise unfolds. While 115 lakh metric tonnes are to be procured by government agencies, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will be procuring 20 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and 2 lakh metric tonnes of the grain is expected to be procured by private traders/flour mills.
For this mammoth operation, which is expected to last over a month, officials of state procurement agencies, police, Health Department, Public Works Department, local government and Public Health Department among others will be involved.
“The procurement operations have been planned with the minutest details, considering the extraordinary circumstances arising out of the spread of Covid. Social distancing norms will be followed right from harvesting the crop to allowing farmers in a market yard on a given day and time; and from the produce he can bring in one trolley to how his produce is to be kept in heaps of 50 quintals each,” Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Vishwajit Khanna told The Tribune.
He agreed that lifting the heaps would have to be efficient so that space for the next pile/bale of grains was created instantly. Not just the farmers, labour, officials and arhtiyas in mandis will be maintaining social distance. Even the foodgrains brought by each farmer will be kept in separate heaps.
The proposal to collect foodgrains from the doorsteps has been dropped, but the government has more than doubled the market yards to 3,761 purchase centres, which include rice mills notified as market yards. All Deputy Commissioners will be issuing inter-district passes to arhtiyas for movement and sourcing of labour, while the arhtiyas will be issuing token to all farmers.
Only those farmers who receive the token for a particular day and time, for a specific mandi, will be allowed to bring their produce to the mandis after the police deployed outside their villages have thoroughly screened their token and allowed them to leave. Even outside each market yard, the token will be inspected, besides thermal screening of each farmer.
In event of any Covid positive case coming to the mandis, the entire area will be sealed and arrangements for procurement in another market yard will be made.
This news has not been edited by Apni Kheti staff but has been published by various news feeds
Source: Tribune India
