10% millers sign pacts to process paddy

The state government has begun making efforts to break the ongoing stalemate with rice millers and commission agents, even as 39,000 quintal non-basmati paddy has arrived in mandis across Punjab, of which 9,918 tonne has been purchased.

After holding parleys with rice millers, commission agents and the Centre, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma has managed to break the ice. Of the over 5,000 millers in the state, 431 (around 10 per cent) have signed agreements to process fresh paddy. Verma also held a marathon meeting with representatives of the commission agents today, who have promised to start buying basmati from Friday onwards. So far, 3.39 lakh metric tonne (LMT) basmati has arrived in the mandis across the state.

Talking to The Tribune, Verma said he was hopeful that the issues raised by the commission agents and rice millers would be resolved at the earliest. “After CM Bhagwant Mann wrote a letter to the Centre, the state was assured that daily 17 special trains would start taking rice to the recipient states. Specified number of trains were assigned for Thursday and Friday. By the end of October, 450 special trains will be commissioned to transport foodgrain to other states. Another two LMT grains will be moved out by road. We will hold another meeting with various associations of millers on Friday, where we will be able to give them a roadmap for creating space for storing 90 LMT fresh produce,” he said.

However, majority of the rice millers have refused to accept the assurance given by the Union Secretary, Food and Food Corporation of India earlier, regarding moving 90 LMT rice from the state.

With granaries in the state brimming with rice, the millers are refusing to mill any paddy, till there is space to store that. Bharat Bhushan Binta, president of the Punjab Rice Industry Association, told The Tribune that though he did not buy the government claim of 431 millers signing agreements for paddy purchase, even if they did so, 90 per cent of the millers were still not on board.

Harbans Singh Rosha, a commission agent in Khanna, said a meeting of commission agents would be held on September 5, where they would decide on their next course of action.