BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the kharif procurement season, rice millers in the state have threatened to boycott paddy milling from December 1 if the state government fails to clear the accumulated rice stocks immediately.
At its general body meeting on Friday, the All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association (AORMA) said lifting of over 45 per cent of the rice due against the total procurement of around 97 lakh tonne of paddy was still pending.
“Only 36 lakh tonne of rice has been lifted against the total stock of 63 lakh tonne. Nearly 30 lakh tonne is still lying in rice mills, triggering a severe storage crisis,” said association president Mahesh Kumar Bansal.
The association issued a 10-day ultimatum to the government and submitted a 12-point charter of demands, warning that its members would not participate in paddy milling for the 2026-27 season unless the existing stocks were cleared.
The key demands include lifting of pending custom milled rice (CMR) from the 2025-26 kharif season, release of outstanding milling incentives for both kharif and rabi seasons and revision of transportation charges with effect from the 2024-25 season.
The millers have also sought an increase in the driage allowance for raw rice mills from 0.5 per cent to one per cent and timely settlement of all outstanding dues.
Association general secretary Laxminarayan Deepak Ranjan Das said paddy was not being supplied in FAQ quality in uniform 37.5-kg bags. He also flagged the alleged supply of inferior-quality gunny bags.
The association said no allowance was being made for natural moisture loss in raw paddy, while the milling incentive announced by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was yet to be released. Transportation charges for paddy and rice have also remained unchanged since the last kharif marketing season, it added.
The millers further demanded reimbursement of actual expenditure on storage, insurance and bank guarantee (BG) commission under custody and storage charges, arguing that frequent changes in CMR specifications were adding to their operational costs.
Other demands include monthly direct payment of bills into millers’ bank accounts, withdrawal of the vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) requirement, citing malfunctioning of the devices, and revision of stock verification norms. The association said the existing permissible deviation limit of two per cent was too low. It also sought freedom to trade and export rice produced through custom milling without restrictions.