Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s call for reviving rice mills in East Singhbhum and other parts of the state is aimed at providing better prices for paddy produced by farmers and decreasing dependence on neighbouring states for milling rice.

Jharkhand, plagued with a shortage of rice mills, had in 2021 for the first time decided to take a loan from two public sector banks to procure paddy from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) in Kharif season.

The state had to take a loan of Rs 1,552 crore (Rs 776 crore each from the State Bank of India and Bank of India) to buy 8 lakh MT of paddy from farmers.

“Apart from the scant internal resources, the main reason for taking a loan is due to the lower number of rice mills. We get payment from the Food Corporation of India (a central government body) only for rice and for that, we need a large number of mills to convert paddy to rice which would take a long time. We have to pay 50 per cent to the farmers on the spot and the remaining amount in three months. To tide over this crisis, we have to take loans from the bank,” a senior official in Jharkhand State Food Corporation said.

The chief minister, while addressing a function at Chakulia block in East Singhbhum district on Tuesday evening, said that the state government was keen on reviving the rice mills in East Singhbhum district. “Chakulia, Baharagora, Ghatshila stretch of the district was once known for its flourishing rice mills but in the recent past several mills got closed down due to unfavourable policies of the previous governments,” Soren had said.

Exhorting youths and entrepreneurs to foray into the rice mills sector, Soren announced that the government has resolved to provide 40 per cent funds assistance to the candidates willing to open rice mills.

“The government has cleared the proposals of more than 12 rice mills in the Chakulia range. All will be started soon,” Soren said.

Last year, Soren had laid the foundation stone of 14 new rice mills at a function in Ranchi.