Thaindian News

Chandigarh, Oct 25 (IANS) Over 8.5 million tonnes of paddy has been procured by Punjab and Haryana in the first 25 days of the procurement process, officials said here Monday.

In Punjab, government agencies and private millers procured over 6.7 million (67 lakh) tonnes of paddy till Monday morning.

Nearly 98 per cent of the total procurement in Punjab was done by the government agencies in over 1,700 procurement centres across the state.

Ferozepur district, with over 784,405 tonnes, was leading the procurement process, followed by Patiala (591,438 tonnes) and Jalandhar (581,260 tonnes).

Punjab is targetting a bumper procurement of over 14 million (140 lakh) tonnes of paddy this season.

In neighbouring Haryana, out of the total arrival of nearly 1.8 mn tonnes of paddy, nearly 1.5 million was procured by government agencies, and the rest purchased by private millers.

Kurukshetra, Karnal and Fatehabad districts were among the top three districts in procurement in the state, with over 417,000, 362,000 and 263,000 tonnes respectively.