Bhubaneswar: Rajya Sabha MPs of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) raised the issue of non-lifting of surplus par-boiled from Odisha by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and urged the Centre to look into the matter in the upper house today.
During Zero Hour, BJD Rajya Sabha members Prasanna Acharya, Amar Patnaik, Sasmit Patra, and Prashanta Nanda while pointing out that the Centre has arbitrarily stopped lifting surplus par-boiled rice from Odisha demanded that the Centre should immediately start its lifting without fail.
“The FCI has refused to receive any parboiled rice in the current year 2021-22. Target has been issued to lift only 5 lakh MT of forfeited parboiled rice and 2 lakh MT of raw rice. As a result, Odisha has been left with 15 lakh MT of surplus rice,” Acharya told the Upper House.
“So what should we do with that rice. Should we throw them into the Bay of Bengal,” Acharya questioned.
The BJD MPs expressed apprehension that non-lifting of surplus par-boiled rice from Odisha would severely affect the farmers.
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