Centre will not procure parboiled rice: Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Amid repeated demands from the State government to purchase entire paddy produced in Telangana, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday categorically said the Central government would purchase only raw rice but not parboiled rice. No one can scare the Central government or BJP and its leaders through false propaganda, he said at […]

Hyderabad: Amid repeated demands from the State government to purchase entire paddy produced in Telangana, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday categorically said the Central government would purchase only raw rice but not parboiled rice.

No one can scare the Central government or BJP and its leaders through false propaganda, he said at a press conference in New Delhi.

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Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on the Centre’s apathetic attitude towards Telangana in purchasing paddy, Reddy clarified, “There is no problem in purchasing raw rice in a phased manner based on availability of godowns.”

He sought to blame the State government for the current state of affairs. Listing out the steps taken by the Centre to procure paddy from Telangana, he said the former procured 94 lakh tonnes of paddy worth Rs 26,641 crore in 2020-21 against 43 lakh tonnes of paddy worth Rs 3,404 crore in 2014.

“With this, one can understand how the Centre is striving for the welfare of farmers,” he said. It was the Centre which was giving funds for rice procurement, bags, milling charges, floor capacity and transport charges. “We are not putting a single rupee burden on the State,” he said. The second largest procurement was done from Telangana after Punjab. “We are purchasing the last seed from farmers,” he said, asking the ruling party in Telangana not to resort to false propaganda.

Of the 600 lakh tonnes of paddy procurement, 94.54 per cent was procured from Telangana. The problem was with boiled rice, which is not consumed in Telangana. Kerala where boiled rice used to be consumed has also stopped gradually. Keeping the problem in view, the Centre discussed it with States. Boiled rice was prepared at rice mills and if the equipment is changed, raw rice can be generated. Moreover, the State government said that it would not send boiled rice to the Centre.

On August 17, during a meeting with all the States’ Food and Civil Supplies Secretaries, a decision was taken to procure 44 lakh tonnes. From August 17 to October, there was no correspondence from the State government, he said.

The State government again wrote a letter on September 29 stating that paddy was cultivated in 24.91 lakh hectares and 108 lakh tonnes production was expected, Kishan Reddy said. The State government without conducting proper survey and estimation on paddy production was unnecessarily putting the blame on the Centre, he alleged.

To a question, he said the problem could be solved through discussions by officials from Central and State governments.

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