KAKINADA: More than 50 rice mills in West Godavari District are going to close due to lack of Sortex machinery which makes the rice ‘thin’. In the absence of this machinery, the mills can’t do ‘custom milling of rice’ for the government.
After the Centre lifted ‘levy policy’ five years back, the government purchases paddy and gives it to the rice millers for ‘custom milling of rice’ and pays the mills. However, the state government has decided to supply ‘fine rice’ to people through the Public Distribution System by imposing several specifications on the quality. There are nearly 340 rice mills in West Godavari district out of which 270 mills got the “sortex’’ machinery. However, the remaining mills do not have the capacity to purchase the machinery as it costs nearly Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.
“We can’t invest such huge amount to convert machinery into sortex. If the machinery is fixed, we need to appoint additional driver and and staff. Besides, the power tariff will also be changed. The rice mills have work for two months in kharif season and two months for Rabi season. For the remaining period, we have to pay minimum power tariff to the AP TRANSCO,’’ said a rice miller from West Godavari District.
He said that at present they are paying Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per month for their 100 HP motor. However, if the rice miller goes for sortex machines, he has to fix 150 HP motor and the minimum power tariff goes to nearly Rs 30,000. He said that after thoroughly assessing the income and expenditure, some of the rice millers decided to shutdown. He said that they issued notices to labourers for not coming after one month. He said that if they allow the labourers to come by not issuing notices, the rice millers have to pay salaries even if there is no work for them in the mill.
The West Godavari Rice Millers Association President S. Srirama Raju said that the state government fixed a policy for the benefit of the people and the rice millers have to follow it. He said that sortex machinery is a part of the mill and the rice millers can get ‘second hand machines’ from Rs 12 lakh. He said that the rice millers also should update their technology to changing circumstances or be left out in growth and business. He said that nearly 270 rice millers got the machines and another 60 to 70 rice millers want to go for the machinery in coming six months.
