Haryana: Karnal rice millers meet Food Supplies DG, seek more suppliers

By Parveen Arora

Millers across the state, who are facing difficulties in delivering custom-milled rice (CMR) to the FCI due to the non-availability of fortified rice kernels (FRK), met Anshaj Singh, Director General, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

They demanded that the number of FRK suppliers be increased to meet their demand. They also demanded that FRK be supplied in a transparent manner.

As per the CMR policy, millers are required to deliver 67% rice against the total allotted paddy, with 1% FRK mixed in CMR.

They said earlier they were assured that FRK would be supplied by the government at the time of delivery, however, the arrangement was changed at the last moment, leaving them dependent on a limited number of suppliers, which, they claimed, may lead to black marketing.

Raj Kumar Gupta, president of the District Karnal Rice Millers and Dealers Association, said the government had assigned the task of supplying FRK to only four millers for around 1,400 mills, which was insufficient.

Citing the example of Punjab, he said 109 suppliers had been assigned the task of supplying FRK, compared to only four in Haryana.

Rajinder Monga, senior vice president, District Karnal Rice Millers and Dealers Association, said the number of vendors was low. “Under the new policy, millers are required to deliver 15% per cent of CMR by December-end, 25% by January-end, 20% by February-end, 15% by March-end, another 15% by May-end, and the remaining by June-end. In the absence of FRK, we are unable to begin the delivery of CMR,” he added.

The DG had assured them that the vendors would provide the FRK stock list approved by the Central agency to the DFSC concerned, which would further distribute the FRK stock to millers through procurement agencies, he said.

This article has been republished from The Tribune.