Small rice mills will not have to deposit bank guarantee

RECENTLY INTRODUCED CLAUSE IN CUSTOM MILLING POLICY DONE AWAY WITH; 2,500 SHELLERS TO BENEFIT FROM MOVE

CHANDIGARH:Rice millers in Punjab will not have to deposit bank guarantee for shelling paddy up to 5,000 tonnes, with the state government doing away with the recently introduced clause in the custom milling policy ahead of the upcoming paddy procurement season starting October 1.

At least 2,500 mills of a total of 3,772 in Punjab are likely to benefit from the decision which has apparently been made after the state rice millers’ lobby exerted pressure on Capt Amarinder Singh-led government to relax norms.

The existing policy had a clause making it mandatory for the rice millers to deposit bank guarantee of 5% value of the total cost of paddy a mill wanted to shell. Chief minister Amarinder has given nod to the proposal after the state cabinet had authorised him to bring changes in the policy two months back.

A mill shelling 5,000 tonnes of paddy had to submit nearly ₹50 lakh guarantee, with the millers, especially the smaller ones, expressing their inability to do the same, say state food department officials.

“After the rice millers met senior government functionaries at different levels to push their case, it was decided to amend the policy,” said a food department official.

The department had recently introduced the clause to check misappropriation by the millers after a series of incidents of paddy worth crores of rupees being found missing from the mills had came to light.

As per Food Corporation of India (FCI) the misappropriation of paddy every season is 1-2%. “The amount is small in terms of percentage but when calculated in actual paddy procured it is a huge figure,” a senior FCI official said.