Punjab: Rice millers staring at losses amid 3-month delay in rake allocation

Expressing serious concern over the non-placement of rice rakes for the past three months, millers of the Amloh subdivision have urged the authorities to take immediate corrective measures and to provide them rakes.

Addressing media persons after a meeting attended by a large number of millers, they said that Amloh was a small rice milling centre and nearly 40 rice shellers were operational in the area. Most of them, they said, fell in the small-scale category.

“The current policy of allocating rakes on the basis of milling percentage was disproportionately favouring large-scale units handling 100-200 consignments. In contrast, small and medium millers operating with 30–40 consignments were being left out, leading to mounting losses,” they said, further adding that not a single rice rake has been allotted to the centre in the past three months, severely affecting the movement of processed rice and disrupting business cycles.

The millers said equating Amloh with larger rice hubs for rake allocation was unfair and impractical, given the difference in scale and capacity. They stressed that the existing policy needs to be revisited to ensure equitable distribution that also safeguards smaller players.

Urging immediate intervention, the millers appealed to the authorities to arrange prompt placement of rice rakes at Amloh and modify the allocation policy to prevent further financial losses and sustain the local rice industry.

This article has been republished from The Tribune.