New Delhi, April 13 -- The Centre has agreed to run special trains for lifting wheat and rice stocks lying in Punjab, chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said after a meeting with Union food and public distribution minister Pralhad Joshi in New Delhi on Thursday. The Punjab government said the decision is expected to ease pressure on storage capacity as the state moves through the 2026-27 rabi procurement season.

According to the state government, around 155 lakh metric tonnes of grain stock is awaiting lifting from Punjab. Mann said quicker evacuation is necessary because fresh wheat arrivals are picking up even as storage space remains constrained.

Punjab has said its covered storage system is close to capacity. The state government pu...