"paddy-procurement"

Centres to be operated through Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (4,496), Indira Kranti Patham centres (2,102), and other agencies (541), to streamline the process for farmers during the harvest season.

The agriculture department officials are blaming the weather for the shortfall in procurement of paddy.

The purchases would, however, continue for a few more days to ensure that the stocks left with the farmers are procured till the last grain.

The procurement commenced on April 1 and would end by June 10,” Additional Collector (Revenue) Sabawath Motilal told ‘Telangana Today.’

On May 21, Special officer S Krishna Aditya while reviewing the progress of the procurement of the grains in Mancherial, set May 30 as the deadline for completing the process in both Mancherial and Kumram Asifabad districts.

The charges made by the BRS and BJP were baseless, says Uttam.

Harish Rao said farmers were facing serious difficulties at paddy procurement centres across the State.

Harish said since the IMD was predicting rain soon in the State, the government must speed up the procurement.

He enquired about district wise procurement done so far and the crop expected to arrive at centres and whether the amount was being deposited in bank accounts of farmers without delay.

The district has been witnessing continuous rains for the last four days, leaving the farmers worried. The farmers were waiting for nearly one month for their produce to be procured at several places.

In Karimnagar, about 2.27 lakh metric tons of paddy has been procured from 37,500 farmers through 321 purchasing centres. So far, Rs.414 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of 27,367 farmers.

In a video conference with District Collectors here on Friday, she wanted them to explore ways for faster movement of paddy from procurement centre to mills.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Maheshwar Reddy blamed the State government for the paddy getting wet in the rain and causing loss to the farmers.

They found fault with the officials for not starting the procurement process even after one month.

Rauthu Sattaiah, a farmer, alleged that the staffers at the centre were secretly stealing around three kilograms of grains per bag by tampering with the weighing machine.

As part of the special initiative, Civil Supplies Commissioner D S Chowhan said the corporation has taken up simultaneous weighing and stacking of the stocks.

The farmers said they would stay away from the Lok Sabha elections if the government failed to procure the paddy by Sunday evening.

As for the paddy exposed to rains, only the Civil Supplies department is able to come to the rescue of the farmers. It has been purchasing paddy soaked in rain to meet the requirement of parboiled rice mills.

The farmers complained to former Minister T Harish Rao who visited a procurement centre at Pedda Koduru village on Sunday to know their issues.

The State government could complete procurement of 3.3 lakh metric tonnes during the last three weeks as against less than one lakh tonnes procured by this time last year, he said.