Raw Rice Mills Need to Upgrade Technology: Telangana Civil Supplies Commissioner

Hyderabad: Civil supplies commissioner D.S. Chauhan has stated that pending issues flagged by raw rice millers were being looked into. He said that these mills should improve their technology without which they can’t be treated on par with advanced mills.

Responding to the contention of the Raw Rice Millers Association, he said, “Raw rice millers were allocated more paddy as the state received the largest order for 36 million metric tonnes of rice from the Centre.” He said transport charges of Rs.350 crore which was pending for five years were paid to the millers recently and another payment of Rs.250 crore was in the pipeline. “Millers who have defaulted in giving custom milled rice cannot expect us to pay the charges.”

On the association’s request to waive requirement of 25 per cent bank guarantee for millers, he said that Andhra Pradesh sought 100 per cent guarantee. He claimed that the byproducts like bran and husk which were retained by the millers had increased two to three times in the last five years. “They are earning profits,” he said.