Mumbai, Jun 10 (PTI) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said that procurement of cotton in the state would be completed before the onset of monsoon.

All procurement centres will remain operational even during weekend and holidays to expedite the process, he said in a press conference.

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Pawar, who is also the state Finance Minister, said that directives have been issued to all the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs), marketing federation and other authorities to keep the procurement centres open on weekends and public holidays.

"Out of the pending cotton with the farmers, the FAQ quality cotton must be procured before monsoon," Pawar said.

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Earlier, during a review meeting, Pawar directed the authorities to procure before the onset of monsoon the cotton left with farmers.

"In some talukas of Chandrapur and Nanded districts, there is unavailability of ginning factories and hence procurement from these two districts will be done at the factories along the Telangana border," he said.

He said out of 410 lakh quintals of cotton produced in 2019-20, the cotton marketing federation has procured 188.17 lakh quintals, while private parties has procured 198 lakh quintals.

"With this, a total of 386.17 lakh quintals of cotton has been procured in the state. Now, procurement of 23.83 lakh quintals is left," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)