<i>Trucks queue for days to supply rice to govt godown!</i>
Rice-carrying trucks wait in a long queue near Bochaganj upazila food office that unilaterally stopped taking rice despite extension of deadline till October 31. Photo: STAR
Hundreds of rice-carrying trucks brought by Bochaganj rice millers have remained stranded for seven days in front of Bochaganj upazila food office as the authorities stopped procuring rice without any prior notice to the suppliers.
Rice mill operators of the upazila, already facing 'losses' to supply rice to government godowns, will incur further loss of Tk 10cr due to the authorities' unilateral decision, the millers told The Daily Star correspondent in front of Bochaganj Government Rice Procurement Centre yesterday.
As the authorities extended the period of rice procurement drive till October 31, the rice mill operators in Bochaganj upazila, one of biggest rice producing areas of Dinajpur, faced extra burden, traders said.
Earlier the procurement drive was scheduled to end on August 31.
Millers agreed to supply rice to government due to repeated pressure from government officials but the authorities stopped procuring rice on October 21 without any prior notice, Md Razzak Karim, owner of Jamuna Rice Mills Ltd said, adding that he had to incur loss of Tk 1.5lakh to supply rice to government godown.
Md Zakir Hossain, owner of Hossain Brothers Husking Mill of Vorora under Bochaganj upazila, alleged that district food officials told him to supply 1008 sacks [each sack containing 85kg] but the authority stopped taking rice after about half the amount.
Traders said 208 of the 300 rice mill operators in Bochaganj upazila signed contract with the government to help achieve the target of 26,298 tonnes during the ongoing Boro rice procurement drive.
Authorities disconnected power lines of remaining 92 rice mills for their failure to supply rice to the government godown.
Upazila Food Officer Md Shohrab Hossain declined to make any comment about the matter.
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