FCI to run age test for all milled rice lots

Blurb: Staff told to ensure central pool doesn’t get old stock

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 12

The Food Corporation of India has asked its field staff to check all consignments of rice handed over to them for the central pool and ensure old stocks of rice are not being recycled and passed on to them as rice milled from this season’s paddy.

All field officers have been instructed to examine and analyse consignments of rice as per the specifications of the Government of India. All lots of custom milled rice are to be tested to determine the age of milled raw rice stocks.

The move follows the malpractices adopted by some rice millers, who have been known to get cheaper rice, meant for the public distribution system from states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and pass it on as custom milled rice to the FCI.

These millers are in cahoots with commission agents, who do not make any purchase of paddy, but make bogus purchases and pocket the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy. Since bogus purchase has been made, they have to turn the rice (from the paddy shown to be bought) back to the FCI, which is done by passing off old rice stocks.

Owing to this, the paddy purchased in the state last year stood at 203 lakh metric tonnes, almost 20 per cent higher than the crop produced in the state.

Though the state government, on its own, has raised the vigil to stop bogus billing and recycling of rice scam, the FCI, too, has decided to use scientific methods “to stop falling prey to unscrupulous traders”.

“To prevent this during the ongoing kharif marketing season, the FCI has decided to tighten the purchase norms. We have already started training our field staff on how to check samples using mixed indicator method. From each consignment, five grams of sample (broken and sound) will be taken for age determination, where a sample giving a green colour only will be accepted. The remaining samples will be rejected with a rejection slip to be issued to supplier indicating it is old rice stock. At each accepting depot of rice, we have supplied the chemicals and reagents,” a top officer in FCI told The Tribune.

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How it will be done

* Field staff will check samples using mixed indicator method

* From each lot, 5 gm sample will be taken for age determination

* Samples turning green will be accepted, rest rejected as old stock