Sunday, February 21, 2010

Stand-off between rice millers, govt

CHANDIGARH: Confusion prevails over the milling of PAU 201 variety of rice due to sharp differences between rice millers and the state and Central government regarding shelling of 40 lakh tonne of the variety stacked with millers.

While rice millers insist that due to the Centre's disapproval of the controversial variety, it would be procured by the Food Corporation of India, the government has slammed them for being "unnecessary panicky." A meeting convened by prime minister's principal secretary TK Nair and attended by state government officials, including chief secretary SC Aggarwal, stated that rice prepared from PAU 201 for the Central pool could be accepted. This because results of around 85% samples of the variety drawn for testing were within prescribed limits as far as percentage of the damage and discoloration was concerned.

Talking to TOI, Aggarwal said, "The millers are unnecessarily apprehending higher damage to the paddy variety than what is indicated in the samples. This is not logical. The Centre has clarified that rice should first be milled and one shouldn't jump to conclusions beforehand."

Meanwhile, millers don't seem too willing to buy the government's argument.

Tarsem Saini, president of the Rice Millers Association of Punjab, said, "We can mill 40 lakh tonne paddy stacked with us. But will Food Corporation of India accept it?" Saini said around 2 lakh tonne paddy of 201 variety, already milled across the state, had not been accepted by the Food Corporation of India. "We have been demanding relaxations due to damage to this variety. As of now, 4% is allowed but we want this to be increased by 6 to 8%," said Saini. Sources said the stand-off was significant as the variety had been sown for the first time and a high yield had been reported.

The procurement of PAU 201 began on October 1 and more than 40 lakh tonne has to be milled. Meanwhile, confusion has risen as results of testing by different agencies show a marked difference.

While the health ministry after sampling the variety had termed it unfit for human consumption, the latest samples with the Central government are said to be within the prescribed limits.

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