The Centre on Friday announced relaxation of the norms for the procurement of wheat in Punjab damaged due to late rainfall in the months of March and April, when the crop was at the final stage of maturing. Punjab officially kick-started the procurement on April 1. The state has received the cash credit limit to the tune of ₹35,000 crore for procuring 122 lakh tonnes of wheat.
Making an announcement on micro-blogging site X, the Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Pralhad Joshi, said the relaxations are without value cut, offering a minimum support price of ₹2,585 per quintal.
According to the official communication received by Punjab, the loss of lustre in the wheat crop has been allowed up to 70% against the existing norms of zero, shrivelled and broken grain up to 15% against the norms of up to 6% and damaged and slightly damaged to 6% against the norms of 2%.
The relaxed specifications are applicable with immediate effect and are retroactive to the start of this rabi season, providing a much-needed safety net for the region’s agricultural economy. As per the communication, these relaxations are uniform for the entire state.
“The request for relaxation in wheat procurement due to untimely rainfall was received on April 9. Promptly thereafter, teams were deputed on 10 April to assess the situation across all districts. Based on field inputs, the Centre has approved relaxations for wheat procurement under the Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2026-27 in all districts of Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh,” Joshi wrote in a post on X.
The six teams of the Union ministry of food and public distribution in the past three days collected nearly 300 samples from 78 mandis in 22 districts. The Centre’s decision to relax norms came after the teams submitted their findings.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had on Thursday also recommended relaxing quality norms for wheat procurement in the current season, following parallel investigations carried out by it.
The Union minister said that his decision will help reduce hardship for farmers and prevent any distress sale of wheat, and the relaxations will be applicable from the commencement of the rabi season. Due to late rainfall, harvest and procurement were delayed, and it began this week. The state government had opened 1872 mandis in the state for procurement on April 1.
So far, nearly 17 lakh tonnes of freshly harvested wheat has arrived in the mandis, with 7 lakh tonnes arriving on Friday. The procurement was stalled by the staff of four state procurement agencies — Punsup, Pungrain, Markfed and the state warehousing corporation (PSWC) after they were allegedly pressured to procure damaged grain on par with good quality grain. However, they had resumed purchase after assurance from the state’s food and civil supplies that damaged produce would not be procured until relaxation is allowed.
Following the announcement, the farmer unions deferred their planned ‘rail roko’ protest by three days. Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarwan Singh Pandher announced the decision after an online meeting with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Azad Kisan Morcha (AKM), noting that the 72-hour grace period serves as a final ultimatum to both state and central governments to streamline wheat purchase in mandis.
Damaged grain to be stored separately
The relaxation has come with the conditions that wheat procured under the relaxed specifications shall be stacked and accounted for separately. “Any deterioration in the quality of wheat stocks procured under relaxed norms during the storage shall be the responsibility of the state government, and these stocks will be liquidated on a priority basis,” said the communication, adding that any financial or operational implications due to this relaxation will be the responsibility of the state government.
Full godowns pose fresh challenge
The state is also grappling with storage space as nearly 155 lakh tonnes of grain stock, procured during previous seasons, haven’t been evacuated to consumer states.
Earlier this week, chief minister Bhagwant Mann met Union minister Joshi in New Delhi to highlight the ‘storage crisis’ in the state and sought immediate evacuation to create space to store freshly procured wheat this season.
Ensure quick lifting, timely payments: Kataruchak to officials
CHANDIGARH: Punjab food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Lal Chand Kataruchak on Friday held a virtual meeting with district food supply controllers (DFSCs) and senior officials to ensure a smooth and hassle-free procurement of produce at mandis.
Kataruchak said that with the Centre relaxing quality norms for wheat, the officials should ensure efficiency, transparency and strict monitoring at all levels during the procurement process.
“The procured wheat should be lifted within 72 hours to avoid congestion in mandis. Timely payments to farmers, within 48 hours, should be ensured. The entire process must be carried out in a transparent and time-bound manner,” he said. Kataruchak further asked DFSCs to conduct regular field visits to mandis to oversee arrangements and address issues on the spot. HTC
