Rice millers hold the key to Punjab’s paddy procurement crisis

His view is shared by the top brass of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI is the body which imposed stringent quality control criteria for procurement. FCI chairman Bhure Lal met more than one delegation of rice millers during his inspection tour of the mandis. “The millers’ game is to delay procurement,” he told The Indian Express. “The more they delay, the lower will be the procurement price. The millers will be exhausting farmers’ patience, forcing them to make distress sales.”

The millers, however, contest such claims and say that this year’s procurement season means another disaster for them. Earlier this month, one rice miller from Rampuraphul, Gopal Chand Garg and his wife Veenu, committed suicide, allegedly because they were supplied sub-standard paddy by the State Warehousing Corporation. Because of the quality of paddy, they suffered huge losses as the recovery of rice was reduced. Other millers fear they will face a similar fate if they sign agreements with procurement agencies and then fail to deliver the specified quantity of rice.

“There is no option for us but to close down our mills since such a high degree of damaged paddy will give us sub-standard rice which will never meet the required specifications,” says J.C. Singhara, owner of the R.K. Rice Mills in Moga. Besides fungal disease, he says, this years’s problem has been accentuated with early sowing and harvesting.

Till last week, millers were hesitating from signing agreements with the FCI and other state procurement agencies. And while government officials feel this was just a delaying tactic, the millers say they were waiting for the Centre to take a decision on lowering of quality specifications.

In contrast to the overflowing mandis, the scene at some of the rice mills presents a picture of depressed commercial activity. At the Satguru Rice Mills in Ludhiana, Lucky Garg says he has purchased less than half the quantity he purchased during the corresponding period last year. After milling, the rice has a high 25 per cent damage content. “We have no option but to sell this rice in Kashmir and Assam. This rice will not sell in other parts of the country,” he says.

The owner of the adjoining Mittal Rice Mills says the procurement crisis has hit them so badly that they have been forced to shut down three of their four milling units. The proprietor of the mill, Sanjiv Mittal, guides us to the milling area where an equal quantity of broken rice has been stored along with full grains. “We have not signed an agreement with any company but purchased some stock privately to test the quality. The broken content is even higher than 25 per cent. We cannot meet government specifications with this quality of paddy,” he says.

The Rice Millers’ Association presented a memorandum to Bhure Lal which stated that due to the bacterial disease and the “excessive damaged and discolored grains” they have noticed the damaged condition specifications should be increased from three per cent to five per cent and the moisture content from 14 per cent to 15 per cent while taking rice back from them. They have also pleaded that since paddy plantation in the area starts in May-end, immature paddy starts arriving from early September, causing excessive broken percentage and less yield. They have demanded a “special concession” in broken rice and yields on account of this.

The mood in official circles, however, appears to be against granting any concessions to millers. Officials of the Punjab Food and Supplies Department say that they will continue their crackdown on defaulting millers. Last year, 300 rice millers were blacklisted for having failed to deliver milled rice as per the agreements. A few years ago, FIRs had been lodged against another batch of millers for similar non-delivery of rice.