Punjab cries foul over wheat import

Punjab has decided to take up the wheat import issue with the prime minister. In a move to express the state's displeasure, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue of importing wheat at a higher price of $317-$330 per tonne.

Punjab is a leading wheat producing state. The state will object to the Union government's decision of importing wheat from global buyers at a very high price in the meeting with PM, said the CM's office.

The Centre has recently decided to buy 5.11 lakh tonnes of wheat from global buyers, including Cargill, Toepfer and Riaz, at a price ranging between $317 and $330 per tonne. The government gives Rs 850 per quintal as minimum support price to its farmers.

However, the State Trading Corporation had earlier scrapped a tender it floated to import wheat, saying the quoted price of $263

per tonne was high.

The decision now to import the grain at $317-$330 per tonne has raised a sort of political storm as BJP, the main Opposition party in Parliament, demanded a CBI probe into wheat import.

"We will present complete details of facts and figures relating to wheat production and its current situation in the state so that the Union government could be urged to procure wheat from Punjab rather than going for import," the CMO said.

It would be prudent on the part of Union government to offer high price to domestic wheat growers instead of procuring wheat from other countries at a much high price, the CM's office added.