Chandigarh, April 27 -- With wheat arrivals in Punjab nearly touching 100 lakh tonnes on Sunday, the procurement drive has thrown up multiple challenges for state agencies, including storing freshly procured grain and separately housing damaged stock as per the Centre's norms and timely lifting.

The state mandis on Sunday received 5 lakh tonnes of wheat, taking the total to 99 lakh tonnes plus and according to officials of the state food department, by the end of the day, it will cross 100 lakh tonnes. The state had opened 1,872 mandis to receive an estimated 122 lakh tonnes of the rabi grain from April 1.

The procurement effectively began in mid-April, owing to late rainfall in March and the early week of April, but picked up pace ther...