Centre, Punjab trade blame over supply of ‘unfit for consumption’ rice to Nagaland

DIMAPUR — An ongoing political row between the Centre and Punjab government over ‘tardy’ procurement of paddy this season has revealed the supply of “unfit for human consumption” rice to Nagaland.

According to a report in The Indian Express, samples of rice collected from the stock supplied to Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have either been found to be “unfit for human consumption or beyond rejection limit (BRL).”

Quoting a Punjab government official, it reported that rice supplied to “Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, and Nagaland have been found to be unfit for human consumption.”

“Consequently, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has written to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to check the quality of grains stored in Sangrur, Jalandhar, and Nabha FCI districts, from where the stocks were moved to the recipient states. The ministry, in its letter (written on November 13) to FCI, has also asked the officials to remove the stocks ‘unfit for human consumption’ from the food chain. It has also asked the FCI to check why this was happening.

“Recently, 11,241 quintals of rice were sent to Dimapur (Nagaland) and Assam. On November 12 and 13, the samples of this rice failed the quality test. As many as 18 wagons with 23,097 quintals of rice had insect infestation. The fortified rice was also under par (below standard),” the report read.

The wagons with rice from Sangrur were unloaded on November 12 and 13 at Dimapur and found to be infested/BRL, it stated.

As per the report, Punjab government appeared to be unfazed by this development. “Our paddy was procured two years ago. Milled and fortified rice was supplied to FCI a few months after that. Now, we are not in the picture. If they are moving rice two years after milling, how can we say anything about the infestation? It is up to FCI. They had to store it well and make sure there was no insect infestation.

“After a seller supplies grains to a purchaser, the seller’s responsibility ends there. If the purchaser is not able to maintain the quality of the grains, we cannot be blamed. Our farmers supplied paddy. Our millers milled it. We got our cash credit limit. They cannot blame the millers now. When the milled rice was handed over to FCI, it was in good condition,” it quoted an official of Punjab government as saying.

Tarsem Saini, the president of Punjab Rice Millers’ Association, however, said that FCI will haul up the millers eventually.

“They will ask us to replace the rice which has been found to be damaged. Why blame us when they are not willing to move the rice to consumer states at the right time. These are foodgrains and not bricks. These have a shelf life, and also, if not cared for, these get infested with insects,” he said.

Saini said he could smell a conspiracy against Punjab in the whole “game.” “It is clear that they are doing all this deliberately. They want to show that Punjab’s rice is not required. When it is supplied, then they say it is not of good quality. They want to force the farmers to diversify from rice without helping them with any diversification plan. It is just a discrediting campaign against the state.”

He alleged that it was under this entire game plan that Punjab’s rice was not moved out of godowns which had eventually led to problems of lifting. “Why would farmers grow rice if they know the godowns are already full.”