Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Sasaram : Two dozen big and about 60 small rice mills under Bikramganj sub-division in Rohtas district have closed one after another during past few years rendering over 5,000 employees jobless.
Rice grown in this area is cherished almost everywhere in India including New Delhi. But due to state government’s failure to procure paddy at the fixed minimum support price and other technical problems, the rice mills have closed one by one. Now, neither the paddy procurement centres nor the millers are procuring the paddy from the farmers at minimum support price.
With the closure of rice mills, traders from outside the state are not coming to procure rice. They are now procuring rice from the middlemen at much lower prices and the farmers have no option than to sell the paddy to the middlemen at lower prices.. After closure of rice mills, the mill owners are shifting to different business causing a great loss to farmers and labourers as well. The people at Natwar, Dinara, Sanjhauli, Karakat, Ghosia, Chhitani under Bikramganj sub-division were fully depend on rice mills for rice.
Munna Rai, a rice mill owner, said that the future of rice mill is under cloud due to indifferent attitude of the state government, lack of government aid, and failure of the officials of the district administration to fix price for the custom milled rice.
Sanjay Rai, another rice mill owner, said that the condition of the rice millers were very good till about three years ago and farmers were also happy by selling their yield to the millers but the policy of the government towards the rice millers ruined them and the farmers.
Rajesh Kumar, SDO, Bikramganj, said that some rice millers were declared defaulters for not giving custom milled rice (CMR) on time and the district administration has recommended action against them. State Food Corporation (SFC), Sasaram, had entered into an agreement with the rice millers for the custom milling of paddy and paid to rice millers who delivered the CMR on time.