Punjab woos millers with sops to combat paddy glut

Even as farmer unions continued to hold dharnas at 51 places — 25 toll plazas and outside residences of 26 politicians — over tardy paddy procurement, the Punjab Government has started wooing rice millers with sops to bring them on board for milling paddy.

The Bhagwant Mann government has given them a slew of relaxations, which has led to a total of 2,000 millers signing agreements to mill paddy. However, a majority of them (remaining 3,500) are still averse to milling, mainly the PR-126 and hybrid paddy varieties.

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With 2,000 millers on board, the lifting of paddy has picked up a little speed. Today alone, 1.15 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy was lifted from mandis, though 22.40 LMT still remains unlifted.

Till date, 30.88 LMT of paddy has arrived in the mandis. Of this, 27.68 LMT has been purchased and a total of 5.28 LMT lifted till date, which is just 17 per cent of the arrival. The problem is dominant in the mandis where the PR-126 and hybrid varieties are being brought by farmers.

Harbans Rosha, a commission agent in Khanna, said 45 shellers in the vicinity of the grain market had started lifting paddy. “Fifty per cent of the total paddy that has come here has been lifted,” he said.

The BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) has been holding dharnas at toll plazas and outside residences of three BJP leaders, including Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, besides 23 AAP leaders.

Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi has convened a meeting of the rice millers on Wednesday. “We have received a call to meet the minister and resolve the pending issues of the rice millers,” said Bharat Bhushan Binta, president, Punjab Rice Industry Association.

He said their two most important demands were creation of space to store the paddy of this kharif season and reduce the out turn ratio for milling the PR-126 and hybrid varieties.

It is learnt that the Centre has asked the IIT, Kharagpur, to conduct trials on the out turn ratio of the varieties, if it is less than the requisite 67 per cent. As road blockades by farm unions continued, reports of farmers staying put in mandis, waiting for space to be created there so that they could bring their produce for sale, have come in from different parts of the state.

State government officials have said the issue was likely to be resolved soon. “We have 2,000 millers on board. By Tuesday, we will have another 700 millers signing agreements. This will resolve the problem of glut in the mandis,” said a senior state government official.

“This is distress sale of paddy and severest action will be taken against officials found responsible for it,” said CM Bhagwant Mann, after chairing a meeting to review paddy lifting from the mandis.

Relaxations offered

• Reopening of portal for the registration of rice mills
• New rice mills to get maximum free paddy allocation equivalent to that of existing mills
• Non-refundable fee for milling under the release order plan cut from Rs 75 to Rs 15 per tonne
• 20% hike in free/linked paddy for mills in six border districts