The Fact News Service
Ludhiana, March 28
Reiterating the commitment of the administration to ensure hassle-free lifting and procurement of wheat, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sakshi Sawhney conducted meetings with different Arhtiyas associations, officials from Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Food and Civil Supplies department on Thursday.
The aim was to ensure that the farmers should not face any kind of trouble in context to lifting and procurement of wheat during the season.
Chairing the meeting at Bachat Bhawan on Thursday, DC Sawhney said that the procurement of wheat would begin from April 1, 2024 and all the required arrangements have been made in advance, so that the farmers should not face any problem at the ground level.
SDM Vikas Hira, DFSC (Ludhiana East) Shefali Chopra; DFSC (Ludhiana West) Sanjay Chopra; Divisional Manager FCI, ML Meena; District Manager Markfed, Sudhir Kumar; District Manager Punsup Anant Sharma; District Manager PSWC Sukhwinder Singh; DMO Gurmat Pal Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer Parkash Singh among others were also present in the meeting.
Arhtiyas from Khanna (Asia’s biggest mandi), Jagraon, Sahnewal, Machhiwara, Raikot, Mullanpur, Doraha among other areas participated in the meeting. Suggestions were also sought from the members of Arhtiyas association to streamline the procurement process.
The officials stated that around 8.13 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is expected to arrive at 109 grain markets (mandis) of the district this season.
DC Sawhney directed the concerned authorities to ensure procurement of every single grain of wheat crop with no delay at ground level. She directed the chiefs of all procurement agencies to personally supervise the wheat procurement operations ensuring prompt and smooth lifting of wheat, as per their allotted share of procurement.
DC Sawhney also instructed the officers to make requisite arrangement of power, sheds for the farmers, potable water supply and equipment to monitor the quality of wheat in each procurement centre.
(sub-head) *Use of combines not allowed from 7pm to 7am:
To avoid any untoward incident and loss to the crop, DC Sawhney has ordered that during the wheat harvesting season, the combine operations would not be allowed in the farms from 7pm to 7am. The combines can only be used from 7am to 7pm. These orders have been issued while exercising the powers vested under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973.
Further owners of the combines have been directed that before using harvester combine in the farms, they should get it inspected from the agriculture department and no combine harvester should be used without Super SMS (Straw Management System).
(sub-head) Fire control room established:
To avoid any untoward incident and for restricting the loss in case of any fire incident reported at farms, the administration has established fire control rooms in the district. The fire helpline numbers are as follows:
Office of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ludhiana : 0161-2433100
SDM West: 9646008771
SDM East: 0161-2400150
SDM Samrala: 01628-262100
SDM Khanna: 01628-221343
SDM Raikot: 9914948223
SDM Payal: 01628-271045
SDM Jagraon: 01624-223230
