Punjab will take up with the Centre the issue pertaining to the grading of paddy to solve the problems of the state’s rice millers who have gone on strike, demanding relaxation in the specifications fixed for the procurement of paddy.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who was in Patiala on Wednesday, said state Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon would soon meet Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to sort out the matter.

The rice millers in Punjab are refusing to lift paddy from the mandis in the state, seeking a revision in the discolouration norms set for the procurement of paddy. “The millers are demanding that the damage and discolouration norms be revised from the current three per cent to five per cent, for which the Centre needs to be approached,” said Badal.

“We will soon talk to Sharad Pawar and seek relaxation in the norms,” said the CM.

The rice millers have said they would store paddy for milling only if the Food Corporation of India agreed to relax the damage content norms for PAU-201 variety to five per cent. The millers’ association has also demanded increased storage space.

Badal blamed the Centre for all problems pertaining to farming in the state. “The wrong policies of the Centre have made farming non-remunerative. The farmers of Punjab are under heavy debt, as farming no longer gives them good returns,” he said.

Urging farmers to diversify from the wheat-paddy cycle, Badal said the Government was in the process of setting up an ‘agro centre’ to help small and marginal farmers. Agro societies would be formed which would buy farm machinery, which the small and poor farmers could hire, he said.

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