Chandigarh, April 22– Despite the Nationwide lockdown and because of elaborate arrangements made by the State Government for wheat procurement, Haryana has recorded maximum procurement of wheat in northern India. While adhering to the social distancing norms, in three days that procurement began, 5.45 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Wheat was procured from 42, 937 farmers in the Procurement Centres across the State.

The Chief Minister while interacting with people during the 'Haryana Aaj' program, today shared that till yesterday, 2,89,140 tonnes of wheat was procured in Haryana. While till yesterday 98,858 tonnes wheat was procured in Uttar Pradesh, 42,278 tonnes in Rajasthan and only 1198 tonnes in Uttarakhand. He said that apart from Haryana, Punjab which is the second State in contributing in the Centre’s pool, only 4,855 tonnes of wheat was purchased on the first day and 50,973 tonnes of wheat on the second day by Punjab.

The Chief Minister said in the initial phase of the Corona crisis, he had promised the farmers that every single grain of their crops would be purchased and in the first two days of wheat procurement, that had been proved. He said that the price of wheat at the rate of Rs 1925 per quintal would be deposited without any delay in the accounts of farmers.

He said that the State Government has increased the number of procurement centres by about five times. About 1831 wheat procurement centres and 163 mustard procurement centres have been set up. Apart from this, 4000 police personnel have also been deployed in these procurement centres. He said that adequate arrangements for the sanitization of every procurement centre, availability of masks have been made for every farmer and employees visiting these centres. Along with this hand sanitizer and thermal scanning have also been arranged in every procurement centre.

During the interaction, the Chief Minister also announced a life insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh for the farmers, Arhtiyas, labourers and government employees, whether regular or outsourcing, who are involved in procurement operations.