Food dept plans stringent norms for rice millers

MINIMISING LOSSES Dept to scrutinise their CIBIL rating, take bank guarantee and ask them to open bank accounts

LEARNING LESSONS AFTER BEING DUPED BY SOME MILL OWNERS, DEPT IS TAKING NO CHANCE AND TAKING CORRECTIVE MEASURES

CHANDIGARH: Learning lessons after being duped by some unscrupulous rice mill owners, the food and civil supplies department is formulating stringent norms for them before giving them the paddy quota for shelling in the forthcoming harvest season, beginning in October.

In the custom milling policy on which the government is working nowadays, the food department plans to bring provisions to check antecedents of the rice millers, scrutinise their CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited) rating, take bank guarantee and ask them to open bank accounts to which the state procurement agencies would also have access.

“We have learnt things during the last season, and will incorporate suitable corrective measures so as to minimise the financial losses to the state exchequer,” said principal secretary, food and civil supplies department, KAP Sinha.

The food department became cautious after it came to light in April that an Amritsar-based rice mill owner running mills in the name of Veeru Mal Mulakhraj Jain siphoned off Rs 190 crore of the Punjab National Bank and 13 lakh paddy bags, worth at least Rs 40 crore, belonging to the department.

A similar case was reported from Muktsar when paddy worth at least Rs 10 crore was siphoned off.

There are a total of 3,800 rice mills in the state and scams have been coming to light involving many of them from time to time. However, the Amritsar mill scam was a cause of shock for the department keeping in view its scale.

“We have sought the feedback of managing directors of all state procurement agencies in this regard and on the basis of that we would draft the milling policy and put it before the cabinet for approval,” food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu told HT.

Ashu said the department is also planning to give paddy quota to millers on the basis of their capacity and performance. He said some millers work very well but they don’t have the capacity to shell the amount of paddy they take from the department. The department also wants to be sure about the credentials of the mills which have built huge capacity. “We don’t want scams like the one involving Veeru Mal mills to happen again. The company defaulted because it took more paddy than its capacity,” said the minister, wary of mills duping the department.

‘STOP CONNIVANCE OF EMPLOYEES WITH MILLERS’

Federation of All India Rice Millers Associations president Tarsem Saini, who also heads a millers association in Punjab, said, “I am not against stringent norms for millers. But the steps should be taken so that department employees don’t connive with unscrupulous millers to siphon off foodgrains,” he said.

“Apart from the capacity of a mill, credibility of its owner is also important, which should be kept in mind while making a policy,” he added.