Bathinda, Oct. 2 -- The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), a central agency, on Thursday started procuring the cash crop of cotton at the minimum support price (MSP) at 13 locations across four districts of the semi-arid Malwa region.

Muktsar will have a maximum of four purchase centres each, along with three centres each in Bathinda, Mansa and Fazilka. These centres have been connected with 25 cotton ginning factories.

The corporation has also opened an additional procurement centre at Fazilka's Sito Gunno while two centres in Maur (Bathinda) and Tapa (Barnala) have been closed this year due to low crop production prospects.

According to Punjab Mandi Board data, more than 40,000 quintals of cotton had arrived across the south Malwa di...