MP faces wheat wastage

With the monsoon expected in a week’s time,CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is rushing to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister on Thursday to find ways to dispose of lakhs of tonnes of wheat lying in the open.

Riding on a populist bonus of Rs 100 per quintal,Madhya Pradesh has procured a record 48.50 lakh MT of wheat but has no space to store more than 25 per cent of it. Chouhan convened a meeting of top bureaucrats on Wednesday but found that the state had no resources to cope with the huge surplus.

Though the state government requested the Centre to make available rakes to transport the wheat to godowns,Chouhan said it would be better if the state was allowed to distribute in advance to the BPL families.

Chouhan alleged that the state was given less wheat before because it procured less quantities. “Now we have procured a record quantity the Centre is not lifting it,” he said.