Gujarat government sighed a heave of relief on Monday when the central government agency NAFED agreed to procure groundnut from the state. The National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and Gujarat government signed the MoU for purchase and procure of groundnut from the state under Price Support Scheme(PSS). The central government had appointed NAFED as an agency for procurement of groundnut at minimum support price of Rs. 5,000 per quintal including a bonus of Rs. 110 from the state government. The Gujarat government further appointed its civil supplies department for procurement of groundnuts from farmers, but NAFED had written the state government that they would not procure any commodity from Gujarat as the guidelines for PSS were not followed. The chief secretary of Gujarat government Dr JN Singh and the managing director of NAFED Sanjeev Kumar Chadha had met at former's office on Monday and the agreement was concluded. The chief secretary said that the meeting remained fruitful. He talked to media persons after meeting and said, "Procurement of 5 to 10 thousand ton groundnut will be completed today only. We have given assurance to NAFED that procurement will occur in a transparent manner in presence of police and other government officials." However, Dr Singh did not allow the MD of NAFED to talk to media persons on his view. DNA contacted the vice chairman of NAFED Dilip Sanghani who said that NAFED was satisfied after Gujarat government assured implementation of PSS guidelines. He said, "The Gujarat government has agreed upon all the three major conditions that include a maximum distance of 50 km between procurement centre and warehouse, capacity of sacks for filling groundnuts of 35kg and fumigation and security of groundnuts after procurement. NAFED will soon start procurement of groundnuts if not done yet." The chief secretary wrote to the secretary in the ministry of agriculture Sanjay Agrawal later in the afternoon showing gratitude for granting permission for procurement of groundnut, moong (green gram), toor (pigeon peas) and Udad (black gram) under PSS for Kharif season of 2018 from Gujarat.

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