Make Centre procure paddy, TSCSC chief tells Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation (TSCSC) chairman M Srinivas Reddy urged Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy to desist from making illogical comments over paddy procurement. He wanted the Union Tourism Minister to convince the Centre to procure entire paddy produced in the State and prove his commitment towards the welfare of farmers in […]

Hyderabad: Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation (TSCSC) chairman M Srinivas Reddy urged Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy to desist from making illogical comments over paddy procurement. He wanted the Union Tourism Minister to convince the Centre to procure entire paddy produced in the State and prove his commitment towards the welfare of farmers in the State.

Considering the weather conditions in Telangana, parboiled rice was being offered to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) during Yasangi. This practice was prevalent even in united Andhra Pradesh, he said in a statement issued on Monday.

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Due to the high temperature during Yasangi, cultivating raw rice was not feasible in the State. If the yield was changed into raw rice, then about 30 to 40 per cent of the yield would be consisting broken rice and this was not be permitted by FCI, he explained adding “FCI permits only 25 per cent”. Without considering all these aspects and understanding the ground realities, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy was commenting against the State government, he said.

“A few BJP State leaders were staging protests here. Instead, they should approach the Central government and explain the scientific reasons behind the State government offering parboiled rice to FCI,” demanded Srinivas Reddy. The Central government is showing discriminate against Telangana. Despite repeated appeals, it failed to provide required storage space, besides wagon movement was also not up to the expected levels, he pointed out.

“This causes a delay in supply of Custom Milled Rice and State government has to bear additional interest charges. In a year, while State government bears six months storage charges, Central government bears only two months charges,” said Srinivas Reddy. This apart, the Centre offers only Rs 5.65 towards hamali charges per quintal to Telangana, while for Punjab and Haryana, it offers Rs 24.25 per quintal, he added.

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