Chandigarh, April 5:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday cleared a sum of Rs. 21,658.73 Crore towards Cash Credit Limit (CCL) upto end April-2021 for the procurement of Wheat in Punjab during the ensuing rabi marketing season.
With this, the bulk of the CCL sought by the state government for the purchase of 105.60 lakh tonnes of wheat for this season has been released by the central bank.
The release of the CCL would facilitate the state government in making timely payments to farmers against purchases of food grains in the current season, which would begin from April 10 and culminate on May 31, according to an official spokesperson.
The Central government has fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat at Rs.1975 per quintal, hiking it by Rs.50 from last year’s Rs.1925 per quintal.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh directed the Food & Civil Supplies Department to ensure that the farmers do not face any hassles in the procurement of their produce especially amid COVID-19 pandemic.