DW BUREAU / LUDHIANA Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma on Thursday said that smooth procurement of wheat was underway in Ludhiana as 85-percent of wheat arrived in grain markets had already been procured so far in the district. Reviewing the wheat procurement operations, the Deputy Commissioner said that due to the ongoing situation due to Covid-19 pandemic, staggered procurement of grain was going on. He said that in consonance with the firm commitment of the state government to facilitate the farmers despite prevailing conditions of Covid-19 pandemic, the district administration was duty-bound to ensure that farmers get their produce procured and they don't have to wait for a day to sell the golden grains. He said that any sort of inordinate delay on the part of officials was totally undesirable and any such case of undue delay in the entire procurement operations would be dealt with strictly. He said till April 14, during the ongoing Rabi season, the district administration had procured 53956 metric ton of the wheat in the various grain markets/mandis out of 63757 wheat metric ton arrived in Ludhiana. He said that some quantities of the crop had excess moisture than the permissible limit and would be procured once golden grains get dried properly. He told the officers to make sure that every single grain of wheat was procured and lifted without any sort of delay and at the same time, the social distancing must be maintained in the grain markets to prevent Covid-19 pandemic. He added that the officers must ensure the facilities of hand washing, soaps, masks to all the farmers, labourers and others keeping in view the prevailing circumstances. DC also appealed to the farmers to bring only dry wheat in the grain markets for instant and timely procurement. The government agencies have procured 767913 metric tonnes of wheat in Punjab on sixth day of precourment. Disclosing this here today, an official Spokesperson said that out of the total 767913 MT procurement from various procurement centres in the State. He further said that PUNGRAIN has procured 208067 metric tonnes, MARKFED 173933 metric tonnes and PUNSUP procured 178805 metric tonnes while Punjab State Warehousing Corporation 118824 MT wheat respectively. The Centre government agancy FCI has procured 41534 MT wheat.Apart from this Pungrain Procured 46750 MT wheat for public distribution in the Punjab. Progressive procurement by all the procuring agency is 1824310 MT. In order to ensure smooth, seamless and hassle-free procurement of wheat, Punjab Chief Secretary, Vini Mahajan, on Thursday issued clear instructions to the police and other departments concerned to make foolproof arrangements of not allowing even a single grain of wheat from outside the state and enforcement teams should be deployed on inter-state borders to check the illegal trade. (editor@dailyworld.in)