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Chandigarh, July 7 (PTI) The Punjab millers'' reluctance to mill PAU 201 variety of paddy because of its high damage content, coupled with official paddy milling deadline of July 10, may make it difficult for the state to fulfill its quota of 94.28 lakh tonnes to the Central pool. "The contribution of rice from the state (Punjab) to the Central pool for 2009-10 is running slow primarily because of PAU 201 variety issue. As on date, Punjab has been able to contribute 69 lakh tonnes of rice to central pool, which is 5 lakh tonnes lower than contribution made in previous year," a Food Corporation of India senior official told PTI. The last date of the paddy-milling period is July 10, as the Centre is yet to approve the state''s request for an extension in milling period till September. "The Centre has not yet taken any decision on the request of Punjab which seeks extension in milling period till September 30," FCI official said. However, a Punjab Food and Supplies Department official said that the state had been assured by the Centre that the milling period would be extended. Punjab, which supplies 35 per cent of rice to the Central pool, has to contribute 94.28 lakh tonnes of rice for the period 2009-10, out of which, 1.65 lakh tonnes is levy rice and rest is custom milling rice (CMR). According to officials, 36 lakh tonnes of paddy are still lying with millers out of which 17 lakh tonnes are of the PAU 201 variety. The PAU 201 variety was launched in 2007 by the Punjab Agriculture University for cultivation as it consumes less water compared with other traditional varieties, matures early and has the potential of giving high yield of 70 quintals per hectare. However, rice millers in the state are reluctant to mill this variety because of high percentage of damage and discolouration. "Since there is a high percentage of damage in the PAU 201 variety, it is yet to see how much the state will be able to contribute to the Central pool out of remaining 24 lakh tonnes of rice", Punjab Food and Supplies Department Director DS Grewal said. The state''s rice contribution for 2009-10, so far is estimated at 69 lakh tonnes against 74 lakh tonnes contributed in the same period in the previous year, triggering fear that the state may not achieve its targeted rice contribution. "Even if we mill PAU 201 variety, FCI will not buy the rice from us as the extent of damage in milling this variety will exceed the specifications fixed by the FCI", Punjab Rice Millers Association President Tarsem Saini said. The millers pegged the actual damage percentage during milling of PAU 201 variety to 6-9 per cent against 4.75 per cent damage permitted by the FCI. As per the FCI, rice that has damage content over 5 per cent, is unfit for human consumption. However, FCI has allowed millers to mill this variety by mixing its with other varieties to bring down the damage content.
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