Telangana administration gears up for paddy procurement

Hyderabad: A day after Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced procurement of the entire paddy produced in the State, the administration swung into action to make arrangements for purchase of paddy across the State on Wednesday. While Ministers reviewed the arrangements and plans in their respective districts, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar held a teleconference with […]

Hyderabad: A day after Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced procurement of the entire paddy produced in the State, the administration swung into action to make arrangements for purchase of paddy across the State on Wednesday.

While Ministers reviewed the arrangements and plans in their respective districts, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar held a teleconference with District Collectors, civil supplies and marketing department officials and took stock of the situation.

A State-level control room is being set up to monitor the paddy procurement on a daily basis in the State. Instructions have been issued to District Collectors to set up similar control rooms in their respective jurisdictions to ensure procurement was carried out without causing any inconvenience to farmers.

Compared to last year, this time around, more procurement centres should be set up, the Chief Secretary directed the authorities. Elaborate measures should be made at the paddy procurement centres and they should be inaugurated immediately, he said.

“Collectors, Additional collectors and other senior officials should visit at least four paddy procurement centres every day. Daily paddy procurement reports should be submitted immediately,” Somesh Kumar said.

Stating that a Special Officer should be appointed for every procurement centre to monitor the operations, he said emphasis should be on procuring gunny bags under the supervision of a special officer exclusively for purchasing gunny bags.

Services of Agricultural Extension Officers should be utilized to ensure farmers get minimum support price which has been fixed at Rs 1,960 per quintal, the Chief Secretary said.

The assistance of police and transport officials should be taken to ensure that paddy from neighbouring States does not enter Telangana during the procurement, he added.

Meanwhile, reviewing the action plan formulated for procurement in Mahabubnagar, Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud said 191 centres would be set up in Mahabubnagar and 109 centres in Narayanpet. Negligence on the part of authorities in arrangements and procurement will not be tolerated, the Minister said.

During the next 15 days, all the elected public representatives and authorities should work in coordination and ensure elaborate arrangements, including provision of drinking water, tents, moisture content measuring devices etc, he said, adding that 10 checkposts should be set up in the district to prevent entry of stocks from other States.

Roads and Buildings Minister V Prashanth Reddy said paddy was cultivated in 3.46 lakh acres in Nizamabad district and about 9.68 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was expected to arrive at the procurement centres. To avoid inconvenience to farmers, 458 procurement centres would be set up in the district, he said.

Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar held a meeting with officials in Khammam, Health Minister T Harish Rao reviewed the procurement plans in Siddipet and many other Ministers also conducted meetings with officials and directed them to make arrangements for transporting the paddy procured to godowns.