Rice millers call off strike in Haryana

Agitating rice millers in Haryana today called off their strike after state government assured them of looking into their demands.
A delegation led by Executive President, Haryana Rice Millers and Dealers Association, Jaipal Jain met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today and decided to call off their strike with immediate effect.
Thereafter, the association assured to procure paddy in mandis of the State on government rates.
Because of the strike which started on September 29, paddy purchase at several places in Haryana was hit.
Later, the delegation also met Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kanwar Pal and Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma.

Jain said the government had heard all their demands and assured positive action.

He said the government has made some amendment in 2013-14 policy, according to which millers would have to pay only Rs six lakh as security instead of Rs 10 lakh.
He said that the government has assured that there would be no shortage of gunny bags.
Meanwhile, during the current procurement season, a total of 56,350 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy have arrived in the mandis of Haryana till September 29.
While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Food and Supplies Department said that as on September 29, Ambala had received the maximum amount of paddy at 25,572 MT. Of the total arrival, 426 MT have arrived in Jind, 13,308 MT in Karnal, 2,279 MT in Kurukshetra, 8,295 MT in Panchkula and 6,650 MT in Yamunanagar.

He added that out of the total arrival, government procurement agencies have purchased 43,831 MT paddy. Of this, 10,118 MT have been purchased by Food and Supplies Department, 29,350 MT of paddy have been purchased by HAFED and 4,363 MT have been purchased by the Haryana Agro-industries Corporation. Millers and dealers have purchased 12,699 MT paddy.
The spokesman said that the department had decided that all paddy procurement agencies would get custom milling done through exporters, as Shakti Bhog, Best Foods, Indri Road, Karnal, and other exporters had requested permission for custom milling in the State.