Punjab: 10% millers signed agreement for paddy processing

Punjab: The state government has begun efforts to break the ongoing impasse with rice millers and commission agents as 39,000 quintals of non-basmati paddy has arrived in mandis across Punjab, of which 9,918 tonnes have been procured. Chief Secretary Anurag Verma has managed to break the impasse after holding talks with rice millers, commission agents and the Centre. Of the over 5,000 millers in the state, 431 (around 10 per cent) have signed agreements to process the fresh paddy. Verma also held a marathon meeting today with representatives of commission agents, who have promised to start procuring basmati from Friday. So far, 3.39 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of basmati has arrived in mandis across the state. Speaking to the Tribune, Verma said he hoped the issues raised by commission agents and rice millers would be resolved at the earliest. He said, ‘After Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote to the Centre, the state was assured that 17 special trains per day will start carrying rice to the recipient states. A fixed number of trains have been scheduled for Thursday and Friday. By the end of October, 450 special trains will be launched to transport foodgrains to other states. The other two LMT grain will be sent by road. We will have another meeting with various associations of millers on Friday, where we will be able to give them a roadmap to create space for storing 90 LMT fresh produce.’ However, most rice millers have refused to accept the assurance given earlier by the Union Secretary, Food and Food Corporation of India regarding carrying 90 LMT rice from the state. As the rice stocks in the state are full, the millers are refusing to mill paddy until there is space for storage. Bharat Bhushan Binta, president of the Punjab Rice Industry Association, told the Tribune that though he does not believe the government’s claim that 431 millers have signed agreements for paddy procurement, even if they did, 90 per cent of the millers still do not agree to the agreement. Harbans Singh Rosha, a commission agent from Khanna, said a meeting of commission agents would be held on September 5 to decide their next course of action.