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Lalmonirhat rice mills lie idle as govt’s paddy purchase scanty

The crop remains stockpiled with farmers, many labourers go jobless

S DILIP Roy, Lalmonirhat
Following the government's decision to procure less rice from the local rice mills (chatal) this year than that of the previous years, most of the rice mills in the district are idle now.
As a result, a huge number of day labourers, who earn their livelihood by working as rice mill workers, have become unemployed this year.
Moreover, as the government does not intend to procure a large quantity from the rice mills, mill owners are not showing interest in purchasing paddy from the farmers as well.
According to the District Food Control Office in Lalmonirhat,
about 467 rice mills, including seven auto and three semi-auto rice mills, are enlisted under the government's rice procurement scheme this year.
Although the government has a target to procure 7,958 tonnes of rice from the enlisted rice mill owners by the end of February this year, about 70 percent of the procurement target has already been fulfilled.
Rice mill owner Matiar Rahman of Uttar Saptana village in Sadar upazila said he got allotment of only 10 tonnes of rice under the procurement scheme this year which is insufficient to run a mill in full swing.
"As the allotment was three times more last year, many labour-
ers got job opportunities then but the number of labourers is almost half this year, " Matiar said.
"As the government has allotted a very small quantity this year, we are buying limited quantity of paddy from the farmers," another rice mill owner Haider Ali of Durakuti village in Aditmari upazila said.
Nilphamari District Food Controller Kazi Saifuddin, who is also performing additional duty as Lalmonirhat District Food Controller, said the government has been purchasing each kilogram of rice from the mill owners at Tk 36 while it's being sold at Tk 28 in local markets.
“Although the millers got a small allotment this year, they
are getting more profits than that of the previous year," Saifuddin said, adding that the government might issue a fresh directive soon to procure more rice from the millers.
Abdul Karim, a rice mill worker of Uttar Saptana village, said only four workers are now working in the mill though the number was eight last year.
"We used to earn Tk 400 to Tk 500 daily on production basis earlier, but we manage to earn only Tk 200 to Tk 250 this year," Karim said.
"Due to less paddy processing and rice production work about 50 percent labourers became unemployed this year," another worker Shafiqul Islam of the village said.