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The Punjab Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Friday gave nod to the new Punjab Food Grains Labour Policy, 2022 and the revised Punjab Food Grains Transportation Policy, 2022 to ensure wider competitive participation with increased transparency and, at the same time, reduce frivolous litigations.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the revised transportation policy is now in sync with the custom milling policy for procurement and milling of paddy, approved by the Cabinet a few days back.

The revised transportation policy mandates, for the first time ever, the installation of vehicle tracking systems in every vehicle used for transportation of food grains procured by the government.

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs has already initiated the process of empanelling companies, which provide vehicle-tracking systems, and making the existing Anaaj Khareed Portal compatible with these systems.

Likewise, the new labour policy aims at ensuring wider participation of labour associations by abolishing the prevailing Labour and Cartage Policy.

The existing policy, prevailing for past many decades, was perceived by many to favour participation of contractors, since it involved providing labour and transportation services by the same person.

But the new policy has completely delinked labour and transportation services, thereby providing increased opportunities to labour associations to directly participate in the tender process, which will directly increase their incomes by removing the contractor margin, the spokesperson said.