Rice millers threaten indefinite closure

The Rice Millers Association, Punjab, at a meeting held here on Saturday, threatened to close mills indefinitely if the state government did not take up its issues with the Centre. Their demands include analysis of the milled rice being supplied to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), acceptance of the custom milled rice till the supply of the FRK improved, besides concern over non-supply of the fortified rice kernels (FRK).

Tarsem Saini, national president, Federation of All India Rice Millers Association, said a digital campaign had been launched by the Prime Minister to eliminate corruption. He said in 2022, automatic grain analyser (AGA) machines were introduced in the FCI to analyse the milled rice being supplied to the FCI as a pilot project

In 2023, these were introduced at the national level in the FCI depots and this had eliminated the loot of millers and corrupt practices of certain FCI officials.

He said now the Union Ministry and the FCI, in a letter, had stated that rice analysis would be done through manual and AGA machines, but the manual results would be considered final. He said the federation took up the issue with the Union Food Supplies ministry and a committee was constituted in March 2025, but the committee had not submitted any report so far.

Moreover, the Joint Secretary of the ministry said the government could not interfere in this issue, as the FCI took the decision on its own. He said at present, the FCI officials had resorted to manual analysis, allegedly leading to corrupt practices and blackmail. Besides, the millers were suffering financially due to the non-supply of the FRK, adding that the FRK suppliers were active in black market. The government rate was Rs 40, while the FRK suppliers were providing it at Rs 60 per kg. He said they had taken up the issue with Director, Food & Civil Supplies, Punjab, and the DGM FCI.