CM seeks intervention of FCI for paddy milling outside state

Bhopal: The Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged the Union Government to give necessary directives to the Food Corporation of India for accepting additional 5 lakh metric tonnes of paddy available with Madhya Pradesh in excess and move it outside the state for milling.
In a letter to the Union Minister of State for Food & Public Distribution System Affairs, Prof. K.V. Thomas, the Chief Minister said that rice available in Madhya Pradesh is excess of the state’s requirements and can be utilised in other states.
Shri Chouhan said the state procurement agencies are saddled with un-milled stocks measuring almost one lakh MT of paddy procured during the previous season. Now adding to this procurement of 13.40 lakh MTs, the total quantity requiring milling is 14.40 lakh MTs. The actual requirement of rice for PDS and OWS in Madhya Pradesh is 6 lakh MT, for which 9 lakh MT paddy is sufficient. All efforts are being made to mill this quantity.
Shri Chouhan briefed the Union Minister about record farm output in Madhya Pradesh saying that the State has witnessed unprecedented growth in agriculture production in the recent past. The Paddy production has gone up from 14 lakh metric tonnes in 2009-10 to to 25 lakh metric tonnes in 2012-13. This has also led to increase in procurement quantity. The procurement under support price scheme was 2.23 lakh MT during Kharif marketing Season 2009-10 and has touched 13.40 lakh MT during justly concluded Kharif Season 2012-13. He said that the rice milling capacity could not keep pace with the increased production. It is also noteworthy that many of rice mills of the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh are located now in Chhattisgarh.