Dinajpur (South) Correspondent :
At least 20,000 workers of rice mills in Dinajpur district are passing hard days as the mills have remained closed for more than a week due to continuous rain, which also hampered procurement of Boro rice, sources said.
They said, around 1,950 rice drying yards of rice mills now give a deserted look due to continuous rain. As a result, rice mill owners are incurring big losses. Alhaj Golam Hamidur Rahman, President of Dinajpur Rice Mills Owners Association, told The Independent that heavy rainfall and lack of sunlight have led to closure of the rice mills.
During the harvesting time of boro paddy, the mills usually remain busy husking paddy and the workers get engaged in boiling, drying and crushing paddy, added Golam Hamidur Rahman. During this time, a large number of trucks loaded with rice are sent to Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Golam Hamidur Rahman said husking rice millers and traders are sitting idle during this time of harvesting as they are not being able to dry and husk the paddy due to bad weather.
