Chandigarh, Sept 24: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said the state was all set to start procurement of paddy. Singh, who reviewed the arrangements made by the department of food and procuring agencies for procurement of paddy, said at a meeting of commissioners and deputy commissioners here, that the state was expecting a bumper paddy crop of 129 lakh mts during the current kharif season. Out of that approximate marketable surplus was likely to be 125 lakh mts. He said the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs had allocated 1459 purchase centres amongst the six procuring agencies, including the FCI for this purpose.

The procurement would commence from October 01, 2003.

Bureau Report