Centre cuts bag supply to choke wheat buy: Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday accused the central government of acting at the behest of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to create shortage of gunny bags and obstruct procurement of wheat in the state.

While Punjab was being made to sweat for gunny bags, neighbouring Haryana was being supplied additional bags to ensure smooth procurement, ahead of voting on May 12, the Chief Minister alleged.

Lashing out at the central government, he said 400,000 bales had been diverted from Punjab to Haryana.

For the first time, since taking over in 2017, the Congress government in Punjab was facing problems in procurement due to the politically motivated actions of the BJP-led government at the Centre in depriving the state of much-needed supply of gunny bags, Singh said. It was aimed at aimed at messing up the procurement process at the behest of the SAD, its ally in Punhab, he added.

The BJP government in Haryana was getting additional bags to handle excess production of wheat this year, Singh said.

Till May 3, 10.54 million tonnes wheat had reached 'mandis', with another 1.6 million tonnes expected to arrive by May 6, he said. A serious shortage of A-class bales was expected in Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts, the Chief Minister added.

Punjab contributes over 50 per cent of grain (wheat and paddy) to the national kitty despite having only 1.54 per cent of the country's land. IANS