336 rice mills face punishment

Enlisted 336 rice mills in Nilphamari did not supply rice to the government depot during the last boro procurement drive from May 7 to August 31, violating written agreement with the district food department.

The authority even extended the deadline to September 15 for the procurement but the mills also failed to supply rice within the deadline.

As punishment, the authorities concerned declared them unfit to supply rice during the ongoing Aman rice procurement. They imposed the rice procurement ban on millers. 

According to the office of the district controller (DC) of food, the authority had set a target to buy 19, 612 tonnes of rice from enlisted millers during the last Boro procurement season to ensure the country's food security in the time of pandemic.

Total 569 rice mills, including 550 traditional husking mills and 19 automatic major rice mills, signed an agreement with the district food department to supply rice as per respective allotment at a rate of Tk 36 per kg.

Of them, only 233 mills supplied perfectly and the rest did not supply rice showing excuse of higher rice prices in open markets than government rate making the procurement drive partially failure.

Of them, 304 husking mills did not supply a single corn while 28 such mills and four automatic rice mills supplied partially but the amount was much less than allocation. 

As a result, the government could procure only 12, 884 tonnes of rice while the rest 6,728 tonnes of the target remain unachieved.

Hrishikesh Deb Sharma, Sadar upazila controller of food, said the government has taken the matter seriously as it is pandemic time and asked them to impose a ban on the mills which totally did not supply a single corn.

Secretary of district unit of Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mills Owner Association Azizul Islam said during the Boro procurement season, market price for rice was Tk 40 per kg while government rate was only Tk 36 a kg. Due to this, the millers incurred huge loss.

He added that in spite of incurring loss, big rice mill owners supplied rice as per agreement hoping to make up the loss in next procurement season while many small husking mills have no ability to face the setback. 

Md Nazmul Huque Bhuiyan, DC food in Nilphamari, said some millers want to get profit in every season which is unethical as profit and loss in business go side by side and this time they are taking stern measure to fulfill the target during the ongoing Aman procurement drive.