Telangana: Rice Millers Seek Amendments to Milling Norms

By G Ram Mohan

Commissioner of civil supplies D.S. Chauhan on Wednesday held a meeting with representatives of rice millers from across the state at Civil Supplies Bhavan and sought their cooperation for the smooth procurement of rice during Kharif 2024-25, which is set to begin in October. The rice millers agreed to the government’s suggestion, however, came up with their woes and sought redressal.

A senior rice miller who attended the meeting said, “We wanted the government to conduct a test milling. We are not getting 67 kg of rice per quintal of paddy milled, as per the government norms. The central government finalised these norms by taking Punjab state as the standard; where millers get about 70 kg of rice per quintal paddy. But, here we hardly get 58 kg to 60 kg or a little above depending on the soil in which the paddy was grown. We sought to amend the norms or payment of compensation, as the other byproducts such as broken rice fetch us very little money.”

Responding to the request, the commissioner said to have assured that a high-level committee of ministers will be constituted to look into the matter. Millers also reminded that the civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had agreed with the millers’ demand to increase the milling charges from Rs 100 to Rs 150 when he participated in a dharna as the erstwhile TPCC president. Another issue raised was the rate to be paid for used gunny bags which are left with the millers. “The government sourced the used gunny bags at Rs 26 per bag and supplied them to us. Half of them are not usable. We are asked to pay Rs 15 per bag for the bags that are left with us. We are ready to pay Rs 7 to Rs 8 per bag. The issue is yet to be resolved,” the miller said.

This article has been republished from The Deccan Chronicle.