Jalandhar/Ferozepur, May 3 -- Overnight rains and strong winds in many parts of Punjab spelt trouble for farmers who had brought their freshly harvested wheat grains for procurement as water accumulated in the mandis. In the mandis of Doaba region and Fazilka, thousands of grain sacks were seen floating or soaked in muddy rainwater. Pardeep Kumar, a commission agent from Doaba, said, "Though we had arranged tarpaulins and wooden racks to deal with unprecedented weather conditions, hundreds of gunny bags got exposed to the rain. The extent of damage can be assessed only after the water drains." Jalandhar's chief agriculture officer Randhir Singh said: "The mandi board had made adequate arrangements to deal with unfavourable weather conditions." Fazilka DC Amarpreet Kaur claimed that over 5.23 lakh wheat bags were lifted from grain markets across the district in a single day to save stocks from damage. Traders, meanwhile, said that despite repeated requests to authorities for timely wheat lifting and improvement of the drainage system of the mandis, no action was taken. "Lakhs of wheat bags are lying soaked. This is a disaster," a commission agent Lakhwinder Singh said. HTC...