The revision of security amount from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh (for a mill up to one tonne capacity per hour) and Rs 5 lakh per tonne for mills with higher capacity has been imposed in the kharif 2014 season.
Talking to Business Standard, the President of Rice Millers' Association of Haryana, Rajinder Aggarwal, said they had called on Hooda on Friday and urged him to take stock of the situation.
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He added Haryana had 1,000 rice mills, of which 900 were small and medium scale businesses. The large mills are self-sufficient and do not seek the CMR (custom milled rice- the paddy procured by the government agencies is given to the mills for processing.The rice is picked by the agencies for public distribution in lieu of commission). Only small and medium scale mills are dependent on CMR as they do not have the capacity to purchase and store paddy and rice.
The sudden revision of security has come as a shock for the industry running on razor-thin margins.
The vice-president of the association, Ashish Mehta, told milling charges (Rs 15 a quintal) had not been revised in ten years. Input costs like labour charges, power rate and cost of land had risen a lot. So, the revision is not justifiable.
With the procurement set to start from October, there has been no discussion of the state food supplies department with the millers and association to make preparations.
The mills, he added, have to stretch the milling period as the government agencies do not have sufficient storage space (paddy can be stored in the open but rice has to be stored in a closed area) and are penalised in the form of hoarding charges for late delivery of rice.
"We are in a catch-22 situation. All mills have decided not to enter into an agreement of milling with the state government agencies in the kharif crop," he said.
We expect the state government to take stock of the situation and provide a level-playing field to the millers, else the mills could remain close this season, said Mehta.