Nearly 35 lakh tonnes paddy procured in Punjab

Chandigarh, Oct 21 (IANS) Nearly 35 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured in Punjab this season, food and supplies officials in the state said on Sunday.

Officials said that 34,86,102 tonnes of paddy had been procured till Saturday evening in grain markets across the state.

Paddy procurement started in the agrarian state on October 1 but the bulk of stocks started coming after October 10.

The central government had recently sanctioned a Cash Credit Limit (CCL) amount of Rs 29,695.40 crore for procurement of paddy in the Kharif marketing season 2018-19.

The Punjab government had raised a demand of Rs 40,300 crore required for the paddy procurement this season.

The Punjab government has made arrangements for a bumper procurement of the 200 lakh tonnes of paddy this season.

In 2017-18, a total of 179.34 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured, of which 176.61 lakh tonnes was done by government agencies.