Chandigarh, Sept. 9 -- Preponing paddy procurement from September 16 and granting prosecution sanction against Bikram Singh Majithia were among the few decisions taken by the Punjab council of ministers on Monday.

While giving clearance to the custom milling policy for the current paddy procurement (kharif marketing season 2025-26), the cabinet decided to prepone the paddy procurement from September 16 against the previous years' schedule of October 1.

According to officials in the food and civil supplies department, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had promised to facilitate the paddy growers who had cultivated short duration varieties. "The government would open mandis from September 16, but we are not expecting arrivals by then as it may...