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News India Live, Digital Desk:With the beginning of Rabi season in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann held an important meeting with Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday amid serious crisis regarding grain storage and lifting. In this high level meeting held in Delhi, the food crisis of Punjab, the outstanding Rural Development Fund (RDF) and the demands of the commission agents were discussed in detail. Showing a positive stance on the concerns of Punjab, the Central Government has given approval to run special goods trains to lift 155 lakh metric tonnes of food grains from the state.

Solution to storage crisis and special trains

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann informed the Union Minister that huge stock of last year is accumulated in the warehouses of Punjab, due to which there is no space left to store the new crop. He said that about 155 lakh metric tonnes of old wheat and rice is lying in the state, which needs to be immediately sent to other states. Agreeing to this, the Center has assured to run additional trains between April and June. This will reduce the problems faced by farmers during arrival of grains in the mandis and will speed up the lifting process.

RDF dues of Rs 9000 crore and mention of Supreme Court

Another key issue of the meeting was the pending amount of Rural Development Fund (RDF), which has now increased to about Rs 9,000 crore. CM Mann demanded the release of this amount in installments and said that this money is essential for the development of rural infrastructure and roads. He also indicated that if the Center releases the dues, the Punjab government may consider withdrawing the case pending in the Supreme Court in this matter. Besides this, he also appealed to reduce the high interest rates charged on cash credit limit (CCL), which imposes an additional burden of Rs 500 crore on the state.

Commission of commission agents and EPF issue of workers

Raising the problems of Arhtiyas (commission agents), the Chief Minister supported their demand to make their commission equal to 2.5% of MSP. He said that commission agents are the backbone of the mandi system and their legitimate demands should be considered on priority. Besides, an appeal was also made to immediately release the pending amount of Rs 50 crore to EPF of Mandi labourers. After the meeting, CM Mann said on social media that the attitude of the Center has been positive and soon the Secretary level committee will take concrete steps to resolve all these pending issues.