CHANDIGARH – The Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department has implemented a significant restriction on paddy movement, ordering its officials in the Majha region to stop issuing “release orders” for rice mills located in other parts of the state.
The directive mandates that District and Food Supplies Controllers must first ensure that local rice mills in the vicinity receive the required paddy for shelling before considering requests from mills in other districts.
Impact of Floods and Low Arrivals
This emergency measure comes in response to severe floods that ravaged nearly 5 lakh acres of standing crop, largely in the Majha region (Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, and Pathankot).
The crop damage has resulted in critically low paddy arrivals in the region. For instance, more than a month into procurement, only 2.63 LMT of paddy has arrived in Amritsar and 5.26 LMT in Gurdaspur, figures that are significantly low compared to peak procurement periods.
The state’s overall paddy procurement target was recently reduced by 10 LMT to 165 LMT due to the fall in yield.
Bharat Bhushan Binta, president of the Punjab Rice Industry Association, stated that while Punjab has 5,520 rice shelling units, around 100 units will be severely hit due to the production fall, including millers who recently expanded their capacities.
The restriction aims to address the panic among rice millers in the Malwa and Doaba regions, who traditionally rely on sourcing paddy from Majha, as there is very little unlifted grain available outside the local requirements.