Telangana to invest ₹2,000-cr to set up rice mills across districts
With rice stocks surplus in the past few years and existing mills struggling to process it, Telangana decided to set up more rice mills by investing ₹2000 crore.
Insufficient milling capacity has led to a huge backlog in the supply of custom-made milled rice (CMR) to the central pool, creating friction between the center and the state every season.
As the state continues to request an extension to clear the backlog, the center recently asked the state government to increase milling capacities. It refused to accept about two tons of rice from the state due to excessive delays in contracted delivery of rice.
The current milling capacity in the state can handle about 75,000 tons of rice this year. This is less than a quarter of the country’s production of 30 million tons. Therefore, to relieve pressure on the existing mill network, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao decided to set up rice mills across the state with an investment of ₹2,000 crore.
Rice bran oil processing mills will also be established and integrated with rice mills. He asked the officials to determine the processing requirements in different regions and prepare plans accordingly.
The Civil Supply Department will take care of the construction and management of the new rice mills. The department will get more manpower to take care of the additional responsibilities.
By the way, a delegation from the leading Japanese milling company Satake Corporation was in the city on Monday for discussions with the government. The Prime Minister said, “We will establish rice mills equipped with modern technological tools, with a capacity of 60 to 120 tons per hour in each region.”