Punjab is staring at a serious foodgrain storage crisis with paddy procurement for the new season set to begin on Thursday, even as its granaries remain packed with wheat and rice from previous procurement seasons.The state is facing the storage crunch for the third consecutive year, with the movement of foodgrains from Punjab to recipient states remaining slow. The situation has been aggravated by what officials describe as a sharp decline in demand for Punjab’s grains, as production of paddy and wheat has increased in several states that were traditionally dependent on supplies from Punjab.The immediate pressure is on the rice-milling cycle. Nearly 40 lakh metric tonnes of paddy procured last year is still lying with rice mills, awaiting milling into rice. With inadequate space to store the milled rice, the Centre has had to extend the deadline for delivery of the rice to the Food Corporation of India. Traditionally, the rice delivery is complete by April, but this time it has been extended till October.The state government has repeatedly taken up the issue with the Centre. CM Bhagwant Mann last month met Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi and urged him to expedite the evacuation of wheat and rice from Punjab to create storage space ahead of the new procurement season.The Centre has since stepped up the movement, with additional trains being deployed this month. Officials said while only around 8 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat and rice was moved out of Punjab last month, the evacuation has increased this month. Against an original plan to move 5.50 LMT of wheat and 10 LMT of rice, about 5 LMT of wheat and 6.5 LMT of rice has been moved out this month so far.The pace, however, remains a major concern given the scale of grain that has to be accommodated in the coming months.Officials said that between October and April, Punjab needs to move around 10 LMT of wheat and 10 LMT of rice every month to steadily create the required storage space.“Our main concern is that we create enough space to accommodate last year’s rice, which will have to be delivered till October, and also create space to accommodate 115 LMT of rice to be milled from 180 LMT of paddy that is to be procured this year,” said a senior official in the Food and Supplies Department.The storage requirement does not end with the new paddy crop. The state will also have to make room for the 120 LMT of wheat expected to be procured in April 2027.This means Punjab’s grain storage system will be under sustained pressure through the coming procurement cycle. Space has to be freed for the rice pending from last year, the rice produced from this year’s paddy and, subsequently, the wheat that will be procured next year.The problem has also exposed the vulnerability of a procurement system heavily dependent on the evacuation of grain to other states. The government’s immediate focus, therefore, is on accelerating rail and other movement of grain out of Punjab. But officials acknowledge that evacuation alone may not provide a permanent solution to the recurring problem.The long-term answer, they say, lies in crop diversification so that Punjab is not required to accommodate ever-increasing quantities of paddy and wheat under a procurement system that is already struggling for storage space.