Blacklist rice millers if bank guarantee not returned by Saturday: Botsa

Visakhapatnam: Minister for municipal administration and urban development Botsa Satyanarayana on Thursday said that rice millers would be blacklisted if they failed to give bank guarantee for procurement of paddy from farmers by this Saturday.

In a review meeting with the rice millers held in Vizianagaram in the presence of district officials on Thursday, the minister said that the welfare of the farmers was most important for the government and no farmer should incur losses in this season.

"We are aiming at procurement of 4.5 lakh tonnes this season,’’ the minister said, and added that out of 177 millers in the district, only 113 millers submitted bank guarantees.

The millers told the minister that it was becoming expensive for them to transport rice to the FCI godowns in Visakhapatnam and requested him to create a facility in Vizianagaram. The minister said discussions were being held with FCI officials and soon godowns would be set up locally.

Collector A. Surya Kumari said harvest was more this year than the previous year but so far only 400 tonnes were procured by the millers.