Rice industry is backbone of Chhattisgarh’s economic structure, this was said by Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal in a national seminar on Rice Mill Industries held here on Saturday.
He was speaking as chief guest in the seminar. Agrawal said that Rice Industry contributes maximum to Chhattisgarh’s economy and also provides employment to about 3.5 lakh people in the State. Thus, the BJP-led government solves their problem by always taking it seriously.
He was speaking during the three-day ‘Rice Pro-Tech Expo- 2014’, being held by The Foundation of All India Rice Millers Association and Chhattisgarh Pradesh Rice Mill Association at BTI Ground in Shankar Nagar. On the occasion, he also announced to take back the circular regarding Water Tax levied on rice mills by the Water Resources Department.
“The rice mill industry has brought laurels to Chhattisgarh” said Agrawal, while further advising millers to be prepared to deal with the challenges coming to them in the near future as they will have to improve quality, marketing and packaging of their rice to secure a place in global market.
In this way, the local rice millers could sell their products in international market and could contribute in strengthening the economic structure of India, he said .
Agrawal said that since the tradition of giving bonus on paddy procurement has started, the farmers are not giving importance to produce fragrant rice. He urged the millers to encourage the farmers to produce good harvest of paddy. The President of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Rice Millers Association, Yogesh Agrawal expressed gratitude towards the State government for its decision of custom milling as per the old policy.
He also urged the Minister to make available paddy seeds of new quality to the farmers as it is the need of the hour. While addressing the gathering, the National President of All India Rice Millers Association, Tarsem Singh Saini said that no ‘Green Revolution’ is possible in the country without connecting the rice millers. Thus, a better coordination must be developed between the government and rice millers.
Ravikant Gupta, the National President of Rice Mill Machinery Association, said that the previous Central government’s decision of slapping a penalty of Rs 1000 crore on the machinery companies of India, by raising questions on its technique, was unjust.
To this, the Minister assured Gupta to take up the issue before the BJP government at the Centre and if the previous Central government’s decision was unfair, they will get justice from their present government, he said.