Govt notifies scheme for customs milling of paddy

Patna, Sep 18: Government on Thursday, Sep 18 notified its scheme for Custom Milling for Kharif 2008-09 so as to ensure smooth shelling of paddy to be procured by procuring agencies which include, Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation and the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

According to an official spokesman, for the purpose of custom milling of paddy, the state will be taken as a single unit. Paddy procured by the procuring agencies would be got milled from the rice millers of the state as per Punjab Rice Procurement (Levy) Order 1983.

The spokesman said that each rice mill that was not registered previously with the Food and Supplies Department or whe re there was a change of partners would have to be registered provisionally with the concerned District Food and Supplies Controller by September 25 to be eligible for custom milling of paddy.

The spokesman said that the purchase centres or mandis shall be linked with the nearest milling centre/storage centre keeping in view the availability of milling capacity of the shellers at which paddy is proposed to be stored or shelled.

The government has laid down very strict norms for shifting the paddy in the state or outside the state to check malpractices and pilferage. The surplus paddy, if any, at a milling centre would be shifted for its storage to the nearest milling centre keeping in view the availability of milling capacity at that centre. He clarified that in case the nearest milling centre did not have adequate or surplus milling capacity, the surplus paddy would be shifted to the next nearest milling centre and so on.

The spokesman said that for shifting surplus paddy, if any, available with any procuring agency in a district would be allowed only as per the plan approved by the Director Food and Supplies.

This would be against the submission of cash security or bank guarantee by the millers, where the paddy was proposed to be shifted. He clarified that transportation charges of this paddy would be borne by the concerned miller.

UNI