VIJAYAWADA: Seeking permission from the Kakinada port authorities to allow them to load parboiled rice onto the West Africa bound Stella L Panama, several rice mill owners approached the High Court on Tuesday.
They filed three different petitions, in which they sought the court intervention to allow them to load the parboiled rice from the barge onto the ship.
Chitra Agri Exports MD KV Bhaskara Reddy, Padmasri Rice Mill MD Pothamsetti Gangi Reddy and Surya Rice Mill MD Pothamsetti Viswanath Reddy filed the petitions in the court.
The petitioners’ counsel contended that the rice millers are incurring a loss of Rs 4.2 lakh a day due to the delay and the unilateral decisions of the port authorities. Hearing the petitions, Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu directed the officials to furnish the details of export licence of millers, powers of the authorities in preventing the millers from loading the parboiled rice and other details. The court adjourned the hearing to December 19, directing the Additional Advocate General (AAG) Ivana Sambasiva Rao to furnish full details.