Centre must re-examine their decision not to procure para-boiled rice: Harish

Siddipet: Finance Minister T Harish Rao demanded the Centre to reconsider its decision not to buy parboiled rice of Yasangi harvest season from Telangana State. He said that the Central government has refused to procure parboiled rice despite the repeated appeals made by the State government. Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating a paddy procurement centre […]

Siddipet: Finance Minister T Harish Rao demanded the Centre to reconsider its decision not to buy parboiled rice of Yasangi harvest season from Telangana State. He said that the Central government has refused to procure parboiled rice despite the repeated appeals made by the State government.

Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating a paddy procurement centre at Agriculture Market Yard in Sididpet on Monday, the Finance Minister said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao went to New Delhi thrice to convince the Union government to purchase paddy, but did not receive the desired support from the Centre.

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Increased cultivation to 3.03 lakh acres
Farmers in Siddipet district had cultivated paddy crop in 3.03 lakh acres during the Vaanakalam season against 2.24 lakh acres in the previous Vaanakalam, a significant increase in the cultivation area due to water availability under Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), the Minister said, further adding that the face of agriculture has completely changed due to the efforts of Chief Minister Chandrashekar within a short span of seven years in Telangana State.

Irrespective of all these challenges, Harish said they will purchase every grain of paddy for the benefit of the farmers in Telangana. He said they were going to set up 396 paddy procurement centres as nearly 7.50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was expected from the Siddipet district alone. He attributed the increase in paddy cultivation to free power supply, availability of seeds and fertilisers, completion of irrigation projects and streamlining of procurement.

In view of the increased crop yield, the Minister said they have built a number of godowns across the erstwhile Medak district during the past seven years taking the total storage capacity to 35 lakh metric tonnes from the previous 6 lakh metric tonnes. Siddipet Collector P Venkatrami Reddy and others accompanied the Minister.

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