The ministry of food has been directed to punish the owners of rice mills who failed to supply rice as per the agreement in the case of procurement of Aman rice from the local market.
The Ministry of Food has recently sent a letter to the Director-General of the Food Department regarding this instruction. The letter said that in the case of Aman rice procurement, mills that were eligible to enter into a contract with the government this season, but did not enter into the contract, their license would have to be revoked in due course.
The Ministry of Food has also asked to cancel the license of the rice mills which has not supplied any rice even after signing the agreement. Rice mills supplying 80 percent or more of the contract amount have been asked to release the deposit on special consideration.
The Ministry of Food has directed to confiscate the deposit in proportion to the amount of unsupplied rice those who have supplied less than 80 percent of the contract amount.
In response to the letter from the Ministry of Food, the Ministry of Food has directed the regional food regulators to send the names and addresses of the rice mills, and license numbers.
The government has set a target of purchasing 3 lakh tonnes of paddy and 7.20 lakh tonnes of rice in the current Aman season. The procurement process started on November 7 last year and continued till February 28 this year. The collection price was Tk 27 per kg of paddy and Tk 40 per kg of rice.
Meanwhile, the food ministry has asked the finance ministry to allocate another five lakh tonnes of rice and wheat in the current financial year (2021-22).
Due to the rise in commodity prices, the sales of food items in the open market or OMS activities have been increased, hence the ministry has asked for an additional amount of rice and paddy.
A total of 65 new truck sales were launched in all city corporations of the country from March 17 to help low-income people and keep food grain prices affordable. In that context, the total number of approved OMS centers (shops / trucks) is 2,013.