2.85 lakh passes issued to wheat growers in Punjab

Punjab Mandi Board has issued 2.85 lakh passes to farmers to ensure hassle-free procurement of wheat.

Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Viswajeet Khanna said a total of 3,691 mandis had been set up in the state to prevent gathering and congestion.

To ensure prompt procurement of crop in these mandis, 2,84,285 passes have been given to farmers through arhatiyas' (commission agents) so as to enable them to sell their produce, he added.

In an official releases here, Khanna also said these passes are being directly issued to farmers through arhatiyas' and there is no condition or restriction to get these passes through any mobile app.

He asked farmers to approach their arhatiyas' for passes to take their crops to mandis'.

In the ongoing procurement season, passes are issued to Arthiyas who give them to farmers for brining ttheir crop in grain markets, amid curfew restrictions.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday claimed that the e-pass system has "failed" in Punjab and asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take immediate corrective steps to avert total chaos in grain markets in the state during the ongoing wheat procurement season.

In a statement here, the SAD president said besides the failure of the e-token system, the state's "inability" to arrange required gunny bags, "lack of cleanliness" and basic hygiene in mandi's and their inability to take arhatiyas' along in the procurement exercise had "exposed" the government's "lack of preparation".

It seems most of the plans have been made on paper only as there is a big mismatch between the government's announcements and the ground situation," he said.

Badal said there was a lot of confusion about the app which generates an 'e-pass' for travel to mandis.

He said farmers were not able to validate the e-token on their mobiles. "Many also do not have smartphones".

He said farmers were also demanding that they be allowed to weigh their wheat trailers at weigh bridges before entering the mandi to speed up the entire procurement process.