Rice mills shut; CMR paperwork keeps milling
Millers in four Telangana districts say penalties, storage pressure and delayed payments have pushed them into protest. The government’s current response remains unpublished.
Rice mills in four Telangana districts shut during the protest over CMR obligations and pending payments.
Rice mills in Mancherial, Karimnagar, Nirmal and Nizamabad remained closed on Saturday as part of a statewide protest by millers over custom-milled rice (CMR) obligations, according to a report published that day.
Chiluveru Vaikuntam of the Raw and Boiled Rice Millers’ Welfare Association said millers were facing losses from penalties, inspections, delayed processing and drying payments, storage shortages and quality-related scrutiny by the Food Corporation of India. The associations are seeking withdrawal of the 25% penalty, more storage, relaxed CMR acceptance norms and settlement of pending charges. The government has not published a response to the protest.
The dispute is not new. A Telangana High Court order records that millers remain responsible for stocks in their custody, while payments become due after CMR delivery, reconciliation and recoveries. Another court order records that the Centre extended Telangana’s Kharif 2025–26 CMR deadline to October 31, 2026. The state had already asked the Centre for more procurement and an extension, citing storage and milling pressure.
Earlier, the Civil Supplies Department said there was no scope to waive the penalty. The mills now say the system is imposing losses; the paperwork says the dues still exist. Telangana’s grain cannot be stored by official silence, however efficiently that silence is filed.