Chandigarh, April 17 -- Owing to shortage of space to store wheat during the ongoing harvest season, the food and civil supplies department of Punjab has decided to store 31 lakh tonnes (LT) of wheat on the premises of rice mills, food and civil supplies minister Lal Chand Kararuchak announced on Wednesday. He also said that the state witnessed bumper wheat crop this season, which would help in achieving the target of 124 lakh metric tonne (LMT) with ease for the central pool.

During a press conference, he announced that the state government had increased the labour rate to Rs.2.64 per sack for loading work. "Until a year ago, the labourers used to get Rs.1.80 per sack which was increased by 41 paise to Rs.2.21 per sack at time of paddy ...