NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday said there has been a lukewarm response to the sale of rice to small traders under the open market sale scheme in the first e-auction round and indicated that it is open to tweaking the policy.

While ruling out allowing states to participate in the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) for rice, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra also said the Centre will watch how the subsequent e-auction rounds go before deciding on the next course of action.

Congress-ruled Karnataka and the Centre have locked horns over the OMSS rice, with the latter maintaining that it does not have enough stocks to meet the demand if all states start seeking rice from the central buffer stock.

According to Chopra, 15 states and Union Territories (UTs), including Tamil Nadu and Odisha, are of the view that the Centre’s surplus food stock should be used in the larger interest of 140 crore population and “not for a particular section and particular class of people”.