The government has transferred Atish Chandra, currently Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of Food Corporation of India (FCI), to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as Additional Secretary. The decision has come in the middle of rabi procurement season when concerns about sluggish procurement of wheat have been flagged.

According to the notification issued by Department of Personnel and Training on Monday, Chandra will serve in the PMO until “the balance tenure of his Central deputation or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”

There is no replacement announced for his position as CMD. Before joining FCI, Chandra was a joint secretary in the Union Agriculture Ministry where he had handled plant protection division.

Sources said it was Chandra who had shared his feedback to PMO as early as the second week of April, stating the procurement of wheat maybe about 25 million tonnes (mt) against initial target of 44 mt.

Meanwhile, wheat procurement until May 1 has reached 16.2 mt, which is 43.85 per cent lower than year-ago period.

Though the procurement has dropped in almost all States, Punjab has been able to procure 8.91 mt against 11.21 mt in the corresponding period a year ago. On the other hand, wheat purchase in Haryana has reached 3.72 mt, down from 8.02 mt and Uttar Pradesh 0.15 mt against 1.25 mt last year. The wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh is also down at 3.4 mt from 7.35 mt.

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