The Cuttack district administration has sealed a rice mill at Tangi and seized paddy worth over Rs. 6 crore that was rotting in the mill for last ten months.
According to sources, the paddy was given to the mill by the district civil supplies department in December last for processing and was asked to return the rice after milling by September this year.
The mill owners are supposed to return 68 per cent of the paddy they receive as rice after processing.
But in the district-level paddy procurement meeting held here last month, it was learnt that the rice mill was unlikely to process the paddy it had received in time.
Accordingly, the administration after reprimanding the mill owner had decided to divert the paddy to other mills of the district.
However, on Saturday when the district civil supply department officials visited the mill located in Safa panchayat of Tangi block, they found a major quantity of paddy stored in the mill are either destroyed or are sprouted making them unsuitable for human consumption.
A little over four lakh metric tones of paddy was procured by the district civil supply department during kharif monsoon season last year and they were given to ten millers of for milling, including that of the Tangi-based mill.
Only seven of the ten millers are likely to achieve their target by September-end, S.K. Mishra, district civil supply officer, said adding actions deemed proper would be initiated against the erring miller, the civil supply officer warned.
