As many as 600 out of 900 major rice mills in the State have installed blending machines to produce fortified boiled rice out of paddy purchases made by mills in the ongoing rabi season.
The mills started installing blending machines since the Food Corporation of India had agreed to buy fortified boiled rice in the State while totally rejecting boiled rice. The refusal of the Centre to lift boiled rice from the State had kicked off a major protest by the State government. As the paddy cultivated in rabi generally yielded broken rice due to higher temperatures during harvest, the State government had been supplying boiled rice to the FCI all these years. But, the FCI had refused to buy boiled rice from this year as it had surplussed stocks at its godowns.
In this backdrop, the FCI agreed to buy 40.20 lakh tonnes of raw rice and 2.60 lakh tonnes of fortified boiled rice of rabi from the State, a senior officer of civil supplies told The Hindu.
