Concerned over wastage of around 40 lakh tonnes of PAU 201 variety of rice in Punjab, which was rejected by the Food Corporation of India, an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food will try to find a solution to the vexed issue on Thursday.
Sources said the EGoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee might suggest open market sale of the grain stock being held by the Punjab government as the Centre has nothing to do with the grain. On its part, the Central government may consider ways to compensate the state for the financial burden, they said.
“The open market sale of the grain will help the state retrieve part of the cost. For the balance, which should be around 20 per cent of the procurement price, the EGoM might consider compensating Punjab,” said a senior official.
However, the quantity of the grain is a bone of contention between the Centre and the state. While the Punjab government has put the figure at 40 lakh tonnes valued at `50,000 crore, the Central government’s estimates are that around 16 lakh tonnes of PAU 201 variety of rice valued at `2,500 crore is involved.
Earlier, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India had rejected the stock. The authority had cited provisions of Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Food Safety Standards Act, 2006 as the reasons for considering the partially and pin point blackened grain of rice as damaged grains as per the definition.
The issue was examined by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and according to it, the blackened grains and slightly blackened grains and pin-point blackened grains in the rice of this variety were ranging from 3.39 per cent to 8.79 per cent. The ICAR viewed that blackened grains and slightly blackened grains in the rice were due to excessive iron content in this variety.
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during the recent Monsoon Session.