The Hindu Business Line : ITC, Cargill, AWB buy over 5 lt wheat

New Delhi May 11 The Centre on Friday said ITC, Cargill and AWB have together purchased over five lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat on their account so far in the current 2007-08 rabi marketing season (April-June).

Replying to an un-starred question raised by Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh, said the Centre normally does not maintain data on quantity of wheat purchases by private parties.

However, the Wheat (Stock Declaration by Companies or Firms or Individuals) Order issued by it on March 1, 2007 under the Essential Commodities Act provides that any party purchasing beyond 50,000 tonnes in 2007-08 "shall furnish to the Central Government a return indicating the name/address of the company, quantity of wheat purchased and quantity of wheat held in stock."

Based on information furnished, ITC, Secunderabad declared purchases of 2,61,007 tonnes (date of filing return on May 4), while the figures were 1,70,881 tonnes for Cargill India, Gurgaon (May 3) and 69,013 tonnes for AWB India (April 27).

There is no information about any other buyer purchasing 50,000 tonnes or more on their own account.

More than last year

Meanwhile, total procurement for the Central pool during the 2007-08 season as per information available till Friday had touched 92.30 lt, more than 92.25 lt made during the whole of 2006-07.

The latest figure, according to officials, does not include the six lt of wheat procured by the Punjab Government under its own `Atta Dal' scheme.

"If you add it, we have almost reached 100 lt this time." Of the 92.30 lt procured so far, Punjab accounted for 60.77 lt, followed by Haryana (28.90 lt), Rajasthan (1.76 lt), Uttar Pradesh (79,240 tonnes), Madhya Pradesh (5,650 tonnes), Uttaranchal (1,213 tonnes), Bihar (874 tonnes) and Delhi (200 tonnes).

Against this, the Centre has targeted procurement of 151.5 lt for the whole season.

This includes 75 lt from Punjab, 45 lt from Haryana, 15 lt from Uttar Pradesh, 10 lt from Bihar, three lt from Madhya Pradesh, two lt from Rajasthan, one lt from Uttarakhand and 50,000 tonnes from Gujarat.