The Centre has conceded the Haryana government's demand to exempt from levy obligations the paddy procured by private millers up to October 15.
The Centre's decision about the exemption was conveyed to Haryana food minister Ganeshi Lal when he met Union food minister S S Barnala, here, yesterday.
The request was made as official agencies were not purchasing the fresh paddy crop from mandis. Officials claim the paddy does not conform to the quality specifications, especially the moisture limit, fixed by the government.
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The rains in the third week of September and in the first week of October in some parts had damaged the quality of the grains, besides raising their moisture content.
Millers are ready to pick up these stocks at rates higher than the support price if they do not have to give a part of them after processing to the government as levy rice.
Lal told the Centre that nearly 3.5 million tonnes of foodgrains are stored in Haryana, leaving little space for keeping the new crop that was now coming to the market. The movement of grain out of the state had fallen, of late, to a mere 1.7 lakh tonnes a month, from an earlier level of four lakh tonnes.
Unless the process of evacuation is quickened, it will be difficult to accept delivery of fresh stocks from grain procurement agencies, he told Barnala.
He suggested at least five lakh tonnes of grains (three lakh tonnes of rice and two lakh tonnes of wheat) be transported out of the state every month to make room for the fresh harvest.