Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has asked officials to make foolproof arrangements to ensure wheat stock procured from farmers is not damaged or stolen.

Wheat procurement in the state should be taken up in a festive spirit, he said. Foodgrain procurement was a test of administrative skills and abilities of officials, official sources quoted Chouhan as saying while reviewing arrangements for wheat purchase with Divisional Commissioners and Inspectors General of Police through video-conferencing here last evening. Procurement from farmers should not be stopped even for a single day till the deadline. Foolproof arrangements should be made to save the purchased wheat from rains, theft and rotting, Chouhan said.
The State Government will bear the entire cost of open area storage, he said. Meanwhile, a total of 50,27,396 MT of wheat has been procured by Government agencies on support price from farmers in Madhya Pradesh so far this year, an official release said today. The cost of wheat bought from 5,65,515 farmers of the state stood at Rs 6963.5 crore.
The state is facing shortage of gunny bags required to stock wheat. As against an order of 3.25 lakh bales of gunny bags, the state has received only 2.09 lakh bales, it said.
PTI