Chandigarh: The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has assured the Punjab government that it will start procurement of crop in the state for the year 2017-18 within a week. 

The assurance was given by CCI officials to the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) M P Singh during a joint meeting held here last evening between officials of CCI, Agriculture Department and Mandi Board, an official spokesperson said here today. The spokesperson said that the officials also discussed the issue of sale of cotton below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), in addition to the purchase to be made by CCI, at the meeting chaired by ACS (Development).  

The chief minister is personally monitoring the cotton procurement process and has directed the Deputy Commissioners of the cotton-producing districts to ensure that the farmers get remunerative prices of their produce, the spokesperson said.   

The chief minister has instructed senior officials of the concerned departments to regularly monitor the progress of ongoing procurement of the cotton crop, he said. The chief minister has also directed the Punjab Mandi Board officials to ensure that the farmers get price of cotton as per its quality and gradation, he said.     

The directives followed a review meeting chaired by the chief minister a few days ago to assess the progress with respect to cotton procurement, he said. The review meeting had been attended by senior officers of the state government, besides officials of the Agriculture Department as well as the Mandi Board. PTI