SUNDARGARH: The decision of the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd (OSCSCL) to operate two Rice Receiving Centres-cum-Departmental Storage Centres (RRCs-cum-DSCs) in far-flung areas of the district will cost the State exchequer heavily due to manifold rise in transportation costs.
Sources said without consulting its local authorities, the OSCSCL finalised to operate an RRC-cum-DSC at B Korua in Balishankara block on Chhattisgarh border and another in the remote Hemgir block for 10 years. Each centre has food grain storage capacity of 25,000 quintals with a cost of Rs 8.20 per month per quintal and the facilities will be jointly run by the corporation and private players.
Rice mills located in Sundargarh, Subdega, Lefripara, Tangarpali and Bargaon blocks and Sundargarh Municipality would be badly hit. The millers said two free of cost departmental storage centres and three private godowns at a nominal rent located at viable points are catering to the needs of seven blocks. But instruction was issued to close them. Moreover, most of the rice mills are located in Sundargarh, Bargaon and Rajgangpur blocks which are 40 to 100 km from Balishankara and Hemgir.
Under the present circumstances, the rice mills would dispatch rice stocks to the RRCs-cum-DSCs for storage under the public distribution system (PDS). Now, the lifting agents or transport contractors for these affected blocks and the municipality area would have to procure PDS stocks from these RRCs-cum-DSCs and return to the respective block offices before going for distribution to about 110 fair price shops located in remote areas.
Both the rice mill owners and transport contractors are peeved at the decision while the civil supplies authorities admitted that the decision would enhance transport cost manifold. Sundargarh Civil Supplies Officer (CSO) A Pradhan refused to comment.
Sundargarh District Congress Committee president Dushmanta Naik said the decision would bleed the State exchequer heavily and it is a fit case for Vigilance probe. Naik said the private players involved in the RRCs-cum-DSCs ignored viable locations and settled for distant areas for procuring cheap land.