Overcoming initial hiccup, the process of registration of commission agents (arhtiyas) on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) in Punjab has finally taken off.
Till October 6, 314 arhtiyas across the State have registered themselves in the Expenditure, Advance and Transfer (EAT) module of PFMS, informed a spokesperson of the State Food and Civil Supplies Department while sharing the registration status.
Spokesperson said that the State Procurement Agencies are proactively supporting the training of arhtiyas on use of the PFMS software and are assisting them in uploading the Bank Account details of the farmers and linking them with Arhtiya Bank Accounts on PFMS.
Updating the procurement status of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2019-20, the spokesperson said that the government agencies and private millers have procured 72,170 metric tonnes of paddy from various mandis across the State till October 6.
Out of the total procurement, the government agencies procured 53,822 MT of paddy while 18,348 MT has been procured by the millers, he said adding that PUNGRAIN has purchased 22,050 metric tonnes, MARKFED 15,090 tonnes and PUNSUP 11,813 tonnes while Punjab State Warehousing Corporation purchased 4299 MT paddy.
Earlier, the opposing the Central Government’s direct payment system, the arhtiyas had launched a protest while refusing to procure a single grain of paddy.
The commission agents had alleged that the government is harassing them in the name of uploading bank accounts and Aadhaar card numbers of farmers on Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal.
Notably, in Punjab, the farmers sold their crop to the government agencies through arhtiyas, who provide weighing machines, fans, labour for cleaning the crop and labour for unloading and uploading of the crop in mandis. For that, the government pay the arhtiyas 2.5 percent commission.
In addition, the payments of the farmers are first transferred into the arhtiyas’ bank account, and then they transfer payment to the farmers’ account.
Opposing the new system of ‘direct payment’ in the farmers’ bank accounts, Punjab’s Arhtiya Association had written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh arguing that providing the details of sale of the crop and linking bank accounts and Aadhaar numbers of the farmers with the portal, as per the Food Corporation of India’s instructions, would affect their business.
