Amritsar, August 12 (K.L. Jit Walia) — Rice sheller and mill owners from five important districts of Punjab—Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Hoshiarpur—have come together to form the ‘New Punjab Rice Millers Association’. The association has been established to raise the common issues of rice millers before the government in a more effective manner and work towards finding practical solutions. A large number of rice millers from all five districts participated in the formation meeting.
During the meeting, the office-bearers of the association were unanimously elected. Ajit Narang and Vinod Chadha were elected as Patrons, Avtar Singh Taneja as Chairman and Balwinder Singh Haruval as President. Rajinder Salwan was appointed Senior Vice President, while Surjit Singh Kang, Anil Dhawan Patti and Sanjeev Bhandari were given the responsibility of Vice Presidents.
In the executive body, Sanjeev Anand was elected General Secretary. Sambodh Garg, Jarnail Singh Randhawa, Baljinderjit Singh Sabi, Naveen Gupta, Raman Dogra and Jagjit Singh were appointed Secretaries. Aman Ohri and Manish Ralhan were elected Treasurers of the association.
Newly elected President Balwinder Singh Haruval, Senior Vice President Rajinder Salwan and Chairman Avtar Singh Taneja said that rice millers in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Hoshiarpur are facing several specific issues that are different from those faced by millers in other districts. The association has been formed to raise these concerns collectively before the government and concerned departments.
They said the primary objective of the association would be to bring together the problems faced by rice mill owners, bring them to the attention of the government and work towards practical solutions. The newly elected office-bearers assured that they would remain in regular contact with millers from all five districts and raise their concerns on a priority basis.
Representatives of the association appealed to the Punjab government to consult the association before introducing any new policy or regulation related to rice sheller millers. They said the practical difficulties faced by millers working at the ground level should be taken into consideration while formulating policies so that the problems confronting the industry can be addressed effectively.
MLA Gurdeep Singh Randhawa was also present on the occasion to congratulate the newly elected office-bearers. He appreciated the formation of the association and extended his best wishes to the new team.
Manoj Uppal, Om Malhotra, Vinod Gujarat, Surinder Kumar Kakkar and Kawalpreet Singh, along with a large number of association members and rice sheller owners from all five districts, were present at the meeting.
The newly elected office-bearers said that protecting the interests of rice millers, resolving their problems and establishing better coordination with the government would remain the association’s key priorities in the coming days.
KL JIT WALIA
