Punjab food minister requests Centre to ask FCI to accept rice delivery

Chandigarh, Jun 9 (PTI) Punjab Food Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has urged Union Minister Piyush Goyal to direct FCI to accept delivery of rice, and also expressed fear of huge losses if delivery is t completed at earliest.

In his letter to Goyal, minister said various rice mill associations h brought to his tice that Food Corporation of India (FCI) h completely stopped taking any delivery of custom-milled rice for past one week.

Corporation was citing directions of Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, to conduct physical verification of stocks of rice mills as reason, Ashu ded.

Punjab, which is kwn as foodbowl of country, is yet to deliver around 20 lakh tonnes out of 134 lakh tonnes of rice to Centre for 2020-21 season, said a senior official of Punjab food and civil supplies department on Wednesday.

official said that every year, Centre extends last date, which is March 31, for delivery of rice because of short of and slow movement of stocks by central procurement ncy FCI.

This year also, it extended last date till June 30 but with a rider, in which it directed FCI to carry out physical verification of stock of rice mills in state, said official.

With FCI officials getting busy in physical verification of stocks of around 4,000 rice mills in Punjab, y stopped accepting delivery of rice, he furr said.

In letter to Union food and public distribution minister, Ashu also said: "Huge stocks of pdy and undelivered rice are lying in rice mills of Punjab due to short of and slow movement of stocks by FCI in past few months." He ded that due to shelf life of pdy being only six months, "we may incur losses owing to deterioration in quality of rice of milling process and if delivery of rice is t completed at earliest".

state minister wrote, "I would thus request to issue suitable directions to FCI to simultaneously start taking delivery of rice wherever permissible so that we may be saved of an unsavoury situation in near future." official of punjab food and civil supplies department said y have also taken up issue with FCI to resolve it. PTI CHS VSD HRS hrs