Late-Night Move: Punjab’s request for 80% wheat procurement relaxation sent at 1:15 a.m to central agency
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ April 16,2026
Early this morning, the Deputy General Manager (Quality Control), FCI Punjab, wrote a letter to the Chief General Manager (Quality Control) and the General Manager (QC), Food Corporation of India (FCI), Headquarters, New Delhi, seeking “relaxation in uniform specifications of wheat for RMS 2026–27 with respect to shrivelled and broken grains, damaged grains, slightly damaged grains, and lustre-loss grains for the State of Punjab and UT Chandigarh.”
According to sources, the letter was sent to senior FCI officials in New Delhi at around 1:15 a.m., after officials in Punjab analysed samples collected from various mandis across the state.
An official of the food procurement agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the central government agency, FCI, informed its headquarters that “the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Government of Punjab, vide letter dated April 9, 2026; the Grain Market Arhati Association, Chandigarh, vide letter dated April 13, 2026; and FCI DO Chandigarh, vide letter dated April 13, 2026, have requested relaxation in uniform specifications of wheat for RMS 2026–27, including shrivelled and broken grains, lustre-loss grains, and other parameters, due to unseasonal rains and adverse climatic conditions during the harvesting period.”
Sources further said the official requested that “after detailed analysis of the samples and in view of prevailing conditions, relaxation for lustre-loss grains be allowed up to 80%, shrivelled and broken grains up to 20%, and damaged and slightly damaged grains up to 6%, to facilitate smooth procurement operations.”
Earlier, the governments of Haryana and Rajasthan received approval from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Food and Public Distribution (Storage & Research Division) to procure wheat with lustre loss of up to 70% and 50%, respectively, across their states.
“Haryana received its relaxation letter after 11 days (from April 4 to April 15, 2026) of writing a DO letter to the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Food & Public Distribution (Storage & Research Division), whereas Punjab informed the central government on April 9, five days after Haryana. Now, looking at the procedure, Punjab is likely to get the relaxation before April 20. Till then, the food procurement agencies will procure crops that are within specifications,” said a Punjab food procurement agency official on condition of anonymity.d a Punjab’s food procurement agency official on the condition of anonymity.
