Ludhiana district lifts 88% of procured wheat, tops state

Wheat has started coming in mandis in bulk quantities as harvesting reaches its peak. Ludhiana being the biggest district, it has procured maximum wheat to the tune of over 3.8 lakh metric tonne (MT) as of now. And it also became number one in the lifting of wheat as 88 per cent of the procured wheat has already been lifted in the district.

After Ludhiana, Pathankot is the second district in the state where 87.92 per cent wheat has been lifted. Rupnagar is at number 3 in Punjab with 78.03 per cent lifting of wheat. At the same time, minimum wheat lifting has been done at Tarn Taran, with just 32.19 per cent as on April 25.

Expressing satisfaction, Himanshu Jain, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, told The Tribune that wheat had arrived in total 147 mandis of Ludhiana in both east and west circles and 88 per cent had been lifted from these, which was a good sign. “Our officials are in the fields taking care of all arrangements so that farmers do not face any issue. In case, there are minor issues anywhere, we are getting them resolved at the earliest,” said Jain.

“There were initial hiccups like lesser transportation facilities, labour shortage, etc., but everything was sorted out and we are in comfortable position,” informed the DC.

Meanwhile, many farmers from Kila Raipur had complained about several issues like delay in checking of moisture, no drinking water facility, no one to address the issues of farmers in mandis, etc. Baldev Singh Latala, state committee member of the All-India Kisan Sabha, said that at Kila Raipur, the farmers were facing several issues. He said that gunny bags were provided late. A few buyers at the grain market near Arora Palace had complained that sheds were not enough for storage and whichever were available, people had started parking their vehicles under these.

Ludhiana