Rice millers have a lot to cheer from Union Food and Public District System Minister Piyush Goyal’s assurance to BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar in New Delhi on Friday that the Centre will resume procurement of custom-milled rice from the State.
Otherwise, 93 lakh tonnes of paddy is lying idle at 3,300 small and big rice mills across the State since June 7 due to abrupt halt to custom milling called by the Centre. As a result, the stocks already handed over by the State government to the millers were now exposed to damage caused by sprouting from grain, discolouring on account of rain and feeding on grain by rodents and monkeys.
The main reason for halt to milling operations after two months of hectic activity was the failure of the government to implement the sixth phase of Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana of supply of free rice to the poor to overcome the impact of COVID from April to September. This was after the government drew its quota of 1.90 lakh tonnes of free rice from FCI godowns but did not take up distribution in April and May.
