Chandigarh, Oct 14 : Nearly 40 lakh tonnes of paddy have been procured by government agencies and private rice millers in Punjab and Haryana, officials from the two states said here Wednesday.

In Punjab, nearly 28 lakh tonnes were bought by about 1,600 procurement centres across the state till Tuesday evening.

Over 96 percent of the paddy was procured by government agencies -- five Punjab government enterprises and the central government's Food Corp of India (FCI).

Ferozepur district led among the districts accounting for about 4.5 lakh tonnes.

In Haryana, nearly 12 lakh tonnes of paddy were procured.

Kurukshetra topped with over 4.57 lakh tonnes of the produce arriving in grain markets there.(IANS)