Chandigarh: Following Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s assurance that the state government will bring up their reasonable issues with the Government of India, the Millers Association of Punjab decided to end their strike on Saturday.
The Chief Minister stated that the state government had previously discussed the matter of storage space limitations with the Center during a meeting with the association. Consequently, the Union government has committed to free up tons of storage capacity by the end of 2024 and 90 lakh tons by the beginning of 2025. He added that The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has already submitted a plan for transporting 15 lakh tons of wheat and paddy, and the GOI has given written guarantee about the transportation of the necessary wheat and paddy.
Speaking over a different matter, the Chief Minister mentioned that millers that have more than 5,000 tons of paddy stored now have to give a bank guarantee equal to 5% of the cost of the acquisition. But going future, the bank guarantee requirement will be replaced by a lien on the mill’s land records.
In addition, he gave the Mandi Board instructions to buy moisture meters that resemble those used by the FCI in order to guarantee 17% moisture during the procurement of paddy, to pay transportation costs for rice delivered outside of milling centers, and to do away with backward movement charges with the Center.