Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: The World Food Program (WFP) has put on record its appreciation for the preservation techniques being followed in Punjab for the storage of wheat. It has also decided to send a team of officials to Punjab to understand the process of procurement, testing and transportation of wheat to Afghanistan in February-March this year so that a similar SOP can be adopted by WFP.
Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said that the five member team comprising Sandro Banal, Filippo Zunino, Stephanie Heard, Amit Wadhera and Dr Shruti shall be visiting Amritsar today to take a first hand assessment of how long term storage of wheat is undertaken in Punjab, without deterioration in its quality.
Terming the recognition by WFP as a matter of pride, he said that Punjab, the food bowl of the nation, had been feeding the nation and now the grain produced in Punjab is feeding people abroad also.
It was also creditable that the Western Nations are now looking towards India to study preservation techniques for foodgrains and it speaks volumes of the progress made by the Government of Punjab inthis regard, he added. Senior officials of the State Government and FCI shall be accompanying the team, he said, while assuring full cooperation to the team.
It may be noted that in a separate communication by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Union Government on April 27, it had been conveyed that “WFP is highly satisfied with the quality of 10,000 MT of wheat provided by India to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance”.
This quantity of wheat had been moved from Punjab to Afghanistan via land route through Pakistan. The transported wheat had been stored in PUNGRAIN Steel Silos of 50,000 MT capacity at Mulle Chak Bhagtana-wala Amritsar, constructed in PPP mode with M/s LT Foods Ltd, which shall be visited by the WFP team today.
