Centre owes Rs.370 crore to the State: Niranjan Reddy

Stating that no advance payment was done by the Centre for paddy procurement in the State, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the Centre was yet to clear dues.

Hyderabad: Stating that no advance payment was done by the Centre for paddy procurement in the State, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the Centre was yet to clear dues to the tune of Rs.370 crore to the State pertaining to procurement.

There was no special assistance from the union government for paddy procurement in the State. After the Telangana government procures the paddy, the union government should repay the amount in installments, the Minister explained in the Legislative Council here on Wednesday.

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Replying to a question by BRS MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, the Minister said the entire logistics cost, provision of gunny bags and other expenditure for paddy procurement was borne by the State government.

“This is resulting in additional burden of Rs.600 crore to Rs.1,000 crore a year towards logistics and bank interest for the State government,” Niranjan Reddy said.

On the union government’s stand on paddy procurement, the Minister said in September 2021, the union government stipulated that Telangana would not deliver parboiled rice in future and would supply only raw rice to the central pool.

Despite the challenges, record quantity paddy was procured during Vanakalam and Yasangi seasons during 2020-21 and 2021-22. After Punjab, Telangana was now the second largest producer of paddy in the country. During Yasangi (Rabi), Telangana was the leading producer as paddy was not cultivated in Punjab during the season, he said.

“After the formation of Telangana, till date the State government has procured 6.71 crore metric tonnes, which is worth Rs.1.21 lakh crore,” Niranjan Reddy informed.

With the State government promoting cultivation of alternative crops, the paddy cultivation during Yasangi 2021-22 has come down to 35.82 lakh acres from 51.71 lakh acres in Yasangi 2020-21.

Consequently, production has also come down from 122 .20 lakh metric tonnes to 77.72 lakh metric tonnes, he said.

Similarly, oil palm cultivation was being taken up on a large scale in the State. From 48,000 acres, this year oil palm was being cultivated in 61,000 acres and by March 15, it would be increased to one lakh acres, he said.

Spurious seeds: 16 cases under PD Act

Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the State government had so far booked 16 cases under the PD Act against those involved in sale and manufacture of spurious seeds.
During every season, a special task force is constituted two to three months in advance to identify spurious seeds and initiate action against the offenders, he said in reply to a question by BRS MLC Kasireddy Narayan Reddy.

This apart, all the lots of seeds and fertilisers manufactured in the State were checked for quality at labs in Rajendranagar, Warangal and Karimnagar.

“Though in limited quantity, most of the spurious seeds arrive from Guntur, Prakasham and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. Further, such stocks also arrive from Karnataka and Gujarat,” Niranjan Reddy said.