MP govt accuses Centre of bias in wheat procurement

The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday lambasted the Centre for irregular supply of jute sacks, the main reason for perishing of thousands of tonnes of wheat. The state is expecting to touch a record wheat procurement of eight million tonnes this year.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was threatened to move a calling attention motion against the Centre at Parliament if the state demands are not met.

“The Centre is intentionally restricting jute sack supply to the state. Thus, we are finding it difficult to procure wheat, which may touch eight million tonnes this year. If we do not receive supply of jute bags as committed by the Centre, I along with members of Parliament from state, will launch a call attention move at Sansad Bhavan,” Chouhan said on Thursday after returning from New Delhi. He called on Union minister of state for food and civil supplies K V Thomas and apprised him of the critical situation. According to reports, thousands of tonnes of wheat is lying in open and will perish if timely lifting and transportation do not take place.

 

"We are creating an additional capacity of three million tonnes under covered caps but I cannot guarantee safety if it rains heavily. Also pre-monsoon conditions may spoil our procurement programme, if Centre does not support us in time," Chouhan said adding that the Centre has a tendency to create troubles for Madhya Pradesh with a malafide intention”.

The State Civil Supplies Corporation had placed indents with the Central government well in advance and made payments of Rs 565 crore against 319,230 bales of jute bags.

"We have received only 1,73,336 bales so far, we need 95,664 bales. We have also requested for permission for high density polyethylene bags procurement, but it is in the hands of the Union textile ministry, we are helpless," the chief minister said.

The state has already restricted its procurement from 0.17 million tonnes per day to 0.1 million tonnes a day. "We will reduce it further if we do not receive bags," Chouhan added.