Rice millers ask FCI to relax norms

Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, Nov 19

A delegation of the Punjab Rice Millers’ Association, led by national president Tarsem Saini, on Monday met the General Manager (GM) of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to air their grievances over the working of the FCI staff at the grassroots level. They also presented a memorandum of demands regarding the problems being faced by the millers.

They alleged that on the pretext of a price cut due to high moisture content, the technical staff were blackmailed the millers as it was done manually.

He said the millers sought relaxation in norms fixed by the FCI for getting 67-kg rice from 100-kg paddy to 62 kg to save the industry. Due to unseasonal rain at the maturing stage of paddy, the moisture content had gone up to 22 per cent against the prescribed limit of 17 per cent. The millers apprehend that the outcome ratio may fall even below 62 kg. He said still most of the paddy was stored in open due to which moisture level was not coming down. He said the GM assured the delegation to do the needful.