Odisha govt seeks cooperation of rice millers in paddy procurement
The government on Sunday urged rice millers to take part in the ongoing paddy procurement by executing an agreement with the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) for custom milling of rice for 2024-25 kharif marketing season (KMS).
The All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association (AORMA) is firm on its stand to stay away from paddy procurement in the current KMS until the state government fulfils their eight-point charter of demands.
A meeting with AROMA members were held in the office of deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo in presence of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushan Chandra Patra and Secretary Sanjay Singh after rice millers of Balangir district refused to sign any agreement with the government agency for custom milling of rice.
This is despite the fact that the district procurement committee has decided to start purchasing paddy in Balangir from December 2.
The AROMA representatives comprising association president Mahesh Bansal and general secretary Deepak Ranjan Das told Singh Deo that their demands are genuine but the government is not ready to pay heed even after repeated reminders.
They are left with no choice but to stay away from the operation until the government revised the milling, transportation, gunny bag and other costs towards custody and maintenance of per quintal paddy.
Singh Deo assured that the government will consider their demands after the paddy procurement is over. Since the operation has already started, the government does not want the farmers to face hardship in selling their paddy at the revised support price of Rs 3,100 per quintal.
The millers reportedly raised the issue of storage space constraint they are facing to which Patra said it will be sorted out soon.
Aroma has been demanding revision of the custom milling rate from Rs 20 per quintal to Rs 140 paid by the Chhattisgarh government and Rs 50 for used gunny bag instead of Rs 14.
This article has been republished from The New Indian Express