Paddy procurement: Keshava Rao takes Piyush Goyal to task

Hyderabad: TRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao took union Food Minister Piyush Goyal to task for refusing to procure paddy from Telangana citing technicalities and insisting that Telangana supply only raw rice to the Centre. Rao reminded that considering technicalities, the Centre through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should procure only paddy from […]

Hyderabad: TRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao took union Food Minister Piyush Goyal to task for refusing to procure paddy from Telangana citing technicalities and insisting that Telangana supply only raw rice to the Centre. Rao reminded that considering technicalities, the Centre through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should procure only paddy from the States.

“If technicalities are to be considered, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Centre with the States as well as the Constitution of India clearly mandate the union government to procure paddy, but do not mention procurement of rice in any form,” he pointed out. He was reponding to the union Food Minister’s remarks that the FCI has been procuring raw rice and not paddy from the States for the last several years.

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Raising the issue during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Keshava Rao said Piyush Goyal was only trying to evade direct reply to Telangana’s demand to spell out the exact quantity of rice that the Centre was ready to procure from the States where Decentralised Procurement System (DPS) was being implemented. “Under DPS, the States procure paddy and get it milled for the FCI as per the latter’s demand. While the State government pays to farmers during paddy procurement in June, the Centre is reimbursing the amount around August,” he pointed out. As a result, the States would suffer huge losses, if the Centre refuses to pay.

He asserted that States like Telangana and Odisha were urging the Centre to procure parboiled rice from them as they have climatic conditions different to other States.

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