KHAMMAM: Telangana State has crossed another milestone in rice milling. Rice, other than what is being sold through the public distribution system, is being milled in Telangana now.
Till 2014, Mandapet, a rice mill hub in East Godavari district used to fulfil 90 percent of the other-than-PDS rice demand. Now, Mandapet is replaced by Miryalagunda and the rice being milled there is being marketed in all 31 Telangana districts.
The reason is the high capacity rice mills that were set up in Miryalaguda, Huzurnagar and Kodad in 2014. Machines at these mills have the capacity of processing 100 tonnes rice per day. The cost of setting up these machines, imported from Japan, Australia and France, range from Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore.
Another speciality of these mills is that one machine can produce ten types of rice from a single variety of paddy without any impurities. Miryalaguda, which used to be a hub of mills producing par-boiled rice, now produces all varieties of rice.
Mr. Bomma Rajeswara Rao, Telangana Rice Millers’ Association leader, said, “The rice being milled in Miryalaguda in a day can meet the demand of the whole Telangana for 10 days. Telangana has achieved self-reliance in rice milling.”
