The Telangana government has once again imposed a 25 per cent penalty on its rice millers for their failure to deliver custom-milled rice (CMR) for the 2021-22 rabi marketing season to the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The move comes a month after it penalised the millers for failure to CMR for the 2021-22 kharif marketing season.
The State government pegged the aggregate rice left unmilled at 2.37 lakh tonnes. A similar quantity of rice was left from the 2021-22 kharif season, prompting the State government to impose the penalty.
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“We are levying a penalty of 25 per cent on the defaulted rice, besides handing over the rice to the State pool,” a senior Civil Supplies Department official said.
No deadline extension
He said the millers should pay the penalty and deliver CMR before the commencement of the 2022-23 kharif season.
“The Government of India had extended the deadline to deliver CMR from the 2021-22 rabi season till May 31, 2023. It refused to give any further extensions despite several appeals made by us,” a senior Civil Supplies official said.
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The State government might use the 4.5 lakh tonnes of rice (defaulted by millers) from the two seasons for the public distribution needs.