KV Thomas agrees to send central teams in Punjab for assessing damage to paddy

Chandigarh, October 21, 2013: On the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon today called up Union Minister of State for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs (Independent Charge) KV Thomas for immediately announcing relaxations in the existing procurement norms of paddy, which has been considerably discolored due to recent rains and hail storms across the state.
Presiding over a high level meeting with the heads of the procurement agencies of the state here at Punjab Bhawan, Kairon apprised the Union Minister about the hardships faced by the farmers for the procurement of the grains due to the inclement weather. Subsequently, Thomas assured the Minister that he would soon dispatch technical teams of the officers from his ministry to take stock of the entire situation and assess the extent of damage caused to the paddy in terms of discoloration and moisture. He further promised Kairon that the special teams would take sympathetic view of the piquant situation to bail out the state’s peasantry by relaxing the prescribed norms of paddy procurement, immediately after the submission of report.  
Later on Kairon had threadbare deliberations with the Managing Directors of all the procurement agencies to ensure smooth, hassle free and prompt procurement of paddy in wake of the damage caused to it due to recent unseasonal rains and hail storm across the state especially in Ludhiana, Rupnagar and Fatehgarh Sahib District.  
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister SK Sandhu, Secretary Food and Civil Supplies DS Grewal and Commissioner Food and Civil Supplies Satwant Singh Johal. www.cityairnews.com