Bhubaneswar: An urgent meeting between Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra and All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association (AORMA) over lifting of custom-milled rice remained inconclusive on Saturday evening, deepening the crisis of kharif paddy procurement in western districts.
With 12 lakh tonne custom-milled rice (CMR) awaiting evacuation, the millers had requested the department to create space for kharif paddy. However, after the meeting, the rice millers’ association said the state government was non-committal in its assurance which has forced them to stick to their stand of not lifting paddy from the procurement centres.
In fact, paddy procurement in Sambalpur and Bargarh has failed to take off as millers have not executed any agreement with the state agencies. Since the government uses godowns of rice mills for paddy procurement, the deadlock could hit kharif purchase.
Earlier, the millers had sought Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s intervention saying they were forced to shut down mills due to non-lifting of custom-milled rice by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC).
Meanwhile, reports from Kalahandi said, the mandi in Golamunda block opened on the day but no transaction could take place. According to sources, the district administration and civil supplies department are under pressure as none of the 90 rice millers in the district signed agreements to operate as custom millers or lift paddy from procurement centres.
The AORMA has been taking up its demands with the government for over a year but claims the state has remained unresponsive. “Until the pending issues are addressed, no miller from Kalahandi will participate in procurement,” said Mahesh Bansal, state president of the association.
Bansal alleged that the government is not taking steps to ensure higher rice allocation to the FCI from Odisha compared to other states, despite millers bearing the additional burden of transportation and storage.
He said delays in lifting rice by FCI affect the quality of stored paddy, and millers have not received storage charges for the past two years.
With millers refusing to participate, there is growing concern about the procurement and lifting process. A total of 1,21,181 farmers in the district have registered to sell paddy through 223 procurement centres.
Although the Union Food Ministry revised rice procurement estimate for kharif marketing season 2024-25 from 50 lakh tonne to 58 lakh tonne in October, not a single grain has yet been lifted by FCI. Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Patra had met Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on November 19 in New Delhi, seeking early evacuation of CMR.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.