Harsimrat Badal urges Piyush Goyal to resolve grievances of Punjab Rice Millers

Chandigarh: Former union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today urged union food and public distribution minister Piyush Goyal to amicably resolve the grievances of rice millers of Punjab who are protesting against summary action against them by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) at the earliest.

In a letter to the union minister, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said penal action against millers on account of quality issues in blending of micronutrients in rice to produce Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK) was unjustified.

She said FRK was being procured by millers from designated units. “Onus for quality of FRK should not rest with the millers as they were only blending the micronutrients mechanically”.

The Bathinda MP said more than 1000 lots of FRK had been rejected by the FCI. “Millers have been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 62 lakh without checking their quality of the milling.

In fact instead of going after the millers, the FCI should take action against the FCI licensed mills that have been producing the fortifying material used to coat the rice kernels with micronutrients”.

Mrs Badal said with millers going on strike, the same was impacting the procurement process. “Grain markets in Punjab have been clogged with lifting not taking place. Farmers are also being harassed due to the shutdown in procurement”.

She said recent inclement weather had added to the woes of farmers while asserting that arhatiyas had also been adversely affected by the strike.

The Bathinda MP also urged that compensation for drying rice had already been reduced from two per cent to one per cent and now further to .5 per cent. “This along with the reduction in compensation for depreciation of jute bags from Rs 7.32 per bag to Rs 3.75 per bag has also affected millers adversely”,