PUDUCHERRY: The political tussle between the ruling AINRC government and the previous Congress government under V Vaithilingam has taken an ugly turn with the rice mill owners deciding to close their 40 rice mills indefinitely. The closure is expected to lead to more than 3,000 workers in the indsutry becoming unemployed.This decision by the millers comes after the government cracked the whip on rice mills on Wednesday for refusing to give single boiled rice (SBR) at the government of India levy price only, minus the incentive given by the previous government to compensate the higher price of single boiled rice (SBR) for distribution under Public Distribution System (PDS).Armed with a High Court order( permitting the government to enforce the levy), the department of Civil supplies and Consumer Affairs raided and seized 320 metric tons of rice from two rice mills and sealed another. Export quality ‘ponni’ rice, basmati rice, steam rice was seized from Modern Krishna Rice Mill (260 MT), Andiarpalayam, Baskar Rice Mill, Mangalam (60 MT), while Sivasakthi rice mills at Thavalakuppam was sealed.The scheme of SBR is unique to Puducherry. Puducherry government had issued a GO for SBR at levy rates during the tenure of previous government after obtaining approval from the Centre. In all other states either double boiled rice (DBR) or raw rice was distributed under PDS. Another order was issued to provide an additional incentive of `3.16 to compensate for the higher cost of production. This order was a sequel to the decision taken at a meeting between the GI and GP represented by their secretaries respectively.However, the Rangasamy government withdrew the GO providing incentive and directed the rice millers to give at the levy rates. His contention was that the incentive was not necessary and it had led to loss of `24 crore to ex-chequer. This was objected to by rice millers and they moved the High Court. Yuvaraj, president of Rice Mill Association, said they were willing to give DBR like Tamil Nadu and other states. The production cost of SBR was higher since only 60 per cent is obtained while 68 per cent was obtained for DBR. Moreover, they were procuring rice from Tamil Nadu (where there was no levy) at higher rates as paddy was not available in Puducherry after cyclone Thane struck. Besides, for more than a month there was no power and rice mills could not function. Some mills had to be repaired with the roofs blown away by cyclone.
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