Berhampur: Owners of rice mills in Ganjam district have demanded an increase of milling charge from Rs 10 to Rs 30 per quintal and release of arrear amounting to around Rs 5 crore before start of the paddy procurement this year.
Paddy procurement is scheduled to start from December 15 in the district.
The millers have submitted a memorandum to cooperation, food supplies and consumer welfare minister SN Patro here Saturday evening, Ganjam District Rice Mill Owners’ Association (GDRMOA) secretary, Santosh Sahu said Monday.
“We have discussed our problems with the minister and requested him to solve these before commencement of paddy procurement this year,” he said.
Sahu said the government gives Rs 10 per quintal of paddy for milling and the rate was not revised for the last two decades.
“Increase of the milling charge is urgently needed as the electricity tariff increased during the period. Moreover, transport and labour charges have also increased substantially,” Sahu said, adding the milling charge should be fixed at Rs 30 per quintal of paddy.
Since the milling charge is fixed by the Central government, we urged the minister that the state government should take up the matter with the Centre, he said.
“The minister has assured us that he will write to the Central government for enhancement of milling charge,” said Sahu.
The millers have also sought transfer of mandi (paddy procurement center) handling charge from the primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) to the millers and to release the amount of new gunny bags purchased by the millers in recent years.
“The gunny bags are supposed to be provided by the government. As the government did not provide the gunny bags sometimes, millers purchased these on their own for timely transportation of the commodity,” he said.
They have not got the prices of gunny bags for last two years. Moreover, the security deposits of 53 millers in the districts which were pending with the government for last 10 years should be released immediately, the association demanded.
The security deposit of each miller was Rs 25,000 and was pending with the government, Sahu said.
Millers, however, assured the minister that they will participate in the paddy procurement for Kharif season. Last year, as many as 370 millers in the district had participated in the procurement process.
PNN
