Punjab: Rice mill owners protest against lack of space in warehouses

Punjab: Rice millers of Jalalabad in Fazilka district today staged a protest outside the Food Corporation of India (FCI) office demanding more space in government godowns for storing custom-milled rice. The millers, including prominent ones like Harish Setia, Sumit Jindal, Johnny Kumar and others, reportedly expressed concern over the lack of space and claimed that rice millers from neighbouring areas like Mallan Wala in Ferozepur district are being given priority for storage while local millers are being ignored. According to information gathered by The Tribune, the rice produced by 17 custom-milled rice millers in Jalalabad is 2,347 truckloads that need to be stored in government godowns during the current season. Each truckload contains 580 bags of rice weighing 50 kg, which equates to about 290 quintals per truck. So far, 350 truck loads of rice have been stored in the godowns, along with 70 truck loads of rice from the Mallan Wala area.

However, the remaining 1,900 truck loads of rice are still waiting to be put up for storage. The millers have requested that local millers be given priority in the storage process, while outstation millers be accommodated in any available space. The protest intensified as the impasse continued. In a show of solidarity, the millers later blocked the Fazilka-Ferozepur highway near the red light chowk in Jalalabad, disrupting traffic and demanding immediate attention to their concerns. Speaking at the protest, rice miller Harish Setia said, “If our demand for proper space allocation is not accepted, we will not end this dharna.” FCI district manager Roop Singh Meena responded to the concerns, saying there is currently enough space in the godowns. He assured that five special freight trains are scheduled to carry old stocks of rice and wheat, which will create additional space for the incoming rice consignments. Meena emphasised that FCI, as a central government agency, does not discriminate between local and outside millers in terms of storage allocation.