Chhattisgarh moots for decentralizing of milling

An alarm bell had rang for the rice millers in Chhattisgarh as the state government was mooting a proposal to entrust the paddy milling work to the hauler mills located at the village level.

As of now, the big rice mills in the country's rice bowl were assigned the work of custom milling the paddy procurement by the state government from the farmers. After milling, the rice millers were returning the rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) while the state government was giving them the transportation cost, subsidy and other cost.

In the state where the paddy production had crossed 10 million tonnes, the rice millers had a big business in Chhattisgarh. In the kharif marketing season 2012-13, around 7.1 million tonnes of paddy was given to the millers for converting it into rice.

Now, the state government was considering a proposal to decentralise the process and entrust the paddy milling work to the primary cooperative societies located at the village level. The hauler mills established in the villages would help milling the paddy. About 50,000 hauler mills are registered in the state.

A delegation of Chhattisgarh hauler mills association Thursday met the Chief Minister, Raman Singh and submitted a proposal. "The Chief Minister had forwarded the proposal to the food department for examination and suggestion," a senior state government official said, adding that the delegation was assured that the state government would give a serious consideration to the proposal.

In the proposal, the association had underlined the relief that the state government authorities would get by milling in the hauler mills. This would not only generate seasonal employment for the youths in the villages but would also ensure early disposal of paddy stocked in open by the authorities after procurement.

In all, around 50,000 hauler mills are located across the state. According to the food department officials, the villagers had been using the hauler mills for custom milling 1-2 sacks of paddy that they would require for their personal use. If they take up the work and enhance the production, it would be a challenge for the rice millers who had established big facilities in the urban pockets.

The rice millers are however tight-lipped to speak on the issue. "We are studying the issue and will comment later after getting clear all the points," Chhattisgarh rice millers' association President Yogesh Agrawal said.