01 May, 2026 – Chandigarh : Punjab is witnessing higher-than-expected wheat arrivals despite a fall in yield caused by unusual weather since end of February, prompting close monitoring by the authorities. Eight districts in the state have witnessed higher wheat arrivals than last year, surpassing their targets.
A team of senior officials from the Food Corporation of India, led by Executive Director Daljit Singh, visited the mandis earlier this week and took stock of districts surpassing the targets for wheat arrivals. Directions were then issued to the staff of all procurement agencies to procure wheat only after taking photographs of each heap by placing the day’s newspaper on it and videographing the procedure. Such photographs would be collated each day.
It is suspected that a large number of bogus entries of wheat purchase were being made at some mandis. Some traders were allegedly buying cheaper wheat from outside the state and selling that in Punjab mandis at a higher MSP.
Official sources told The Tribune that wheat arrivals had exceeded targets in the following districts: Mohali 1,41,041 MT (131 per cent); Sangrur 8,65,365 MT (121 per cent); Ludhiana East 3,69,618 MT (116 per cent); Faridkot 4,32,172 MT (115 per cent); Kapurthala 3,43,059 MT (110 per cent); Rupnagar 1,38,949 MT (106 per cent); Fatehgarh Sahib 2,40,027 MT (102 per cent); Ludhiana West 3,34,415 MT (102 per cent); and Patiala 8,52,802 MT (100 per cent).
It is learnt that the FCI has constituted teams to visit these districts, make a random check of the arrivals and send report to the head office in Delhi. Following that, directions have been issued to the field staff to check bogus entries of wheat arrival, while they have been warned of strict action in case such entries are detected. Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha is also learnt to have held a virtual meeting with deputy commissioners of these districts on Thursday.
The Centre has set a procurement target of procuring 122 lakh metric tonne (LMT) wheat from Punjab this season. So far, about 114.13 LMT wheat has arrived in mandis, with the procurement season scheduled to continue until May 15.
In all, 112.08 LMT wheat has been procured so far, including 1.07 LMT by private traders. Last year, the total procurement stood at around 130 LMT, including 10.80 LMT purchased by private traders. Officials in the Food and Supply Department said the reason for higher government procurement was that private wheat procurement was negligible this year, as compared to last year.
The Tribune