Rice Procurement From Odisha Not To Be Stopped: Union Minister

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal on Thursday said there would not be immediate stoppage of procurement of rice from Odisha.

During a discussion with Goyal through video-conferencing, a delegation of Biju Janata Dal MPs from the state raised the issue of rice procurement. The MPs apprised the minister about the recent letter by the FCI limiting the delivery of parboiled rice from Odisha and stopping it entirely for the Rabi season. They pointed out that about 30 lakh ton of rice worth about Rs 7350 crore would be saddled on Odisha if the rice is not evacuated by FCI.

Goyal assured that there would not be any immediate stoppage of procurement of rice from Odisha despite the FCI letter that was sent to Odisha government in early January. For the Rabi season, there would be a consultation meeting between the FCI and the Odisha government officials to work out solutions to ameliorate this situation in mid-February.

The delegation led by BJD Parliamentary Party leader in Lok Sabha Pinaki Misra also raised the issue of the pending subsidy claims of Rs 6039 crore payable by the Centre. Goyal assured that it would be transferred at the earliest and advised his senior officers present in the meeting to take early steps in this regard.

Besides Mishra, the BJD delegation included Chandrasekhar Sahu, N Bhaskar Rao, Sarmistha Sethi, Anubhav Mohanty and Dr Sasmit Patra.