Bhubaneswar: The All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association (AORMA) halted rice mill operations across the state from Monday after talks with the Odisha Government failed to yield any result.
This decision has raised serious concerns over procurement and food supply chains across Odisha.
The AORMA said that rice millers would cease operations indefinitely, citing the government’s failure to provide written assurances on key demands raised by the millers. Discussions with officials from the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department ended without resolution, leaving the association frustrated over unaddressed issues related to paddy procurement policies, transportation guidelines, and storage obligations.
The association had previously issued a deadline of January 3 for the government to honour assurances given in prior meetings on November 29 and December 1, 2025. It had sought payment of custody and maintenance charges for the kharif marketing seasons (KMS) 2023-24 and 2024-25, along with additional incentives for custom milling, an upward revision of transportation rates for the third distance slab (beyond 40 km), and the restoration of driage allowance to 1% for raw rice milling.
According to AORMA’s letter, rice millers will stop transporting paddy beyond a 40-km radius and will no longer keep procured paddy in their own custody. “Paddy will henceforth be lifted only in proportion to the quantity of custom-milled rice (CMR) delivered, shifting the responsibility of storage to the procurement agency,” it stated.
The announcement is expected to cause additional disruptions to the already delayed kharif paddy procurement in multiple districts, especially in western Odisha, where farmers are protesting over the issue. The Public Distribution System (PDS), which depends heavily on rice millers for milling and supply, may also face disruptions in ration distribution.
