Telangana govt faces questions over contradictory paddy procurement claims

Contradictory claims by the Telangana government on paddy procurement have triggered confusion among farmers, with official figures on procurement volumes and payments failing to match announced targets and earlier assurances made by the Civil Supplies Minister.

Hyderabad: Contradictory statements by the Congress government on paddy procurement in Telangana are adding to the anxiety among distressed farmers.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday claimed that the State government had already procured 80 percent of the paddy, with only 20 percent remaining. Later in the day, Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy repeated the same claim. He stated that the government had procured a record 46.21 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy so far and paid Rs 7,841 crore to farmers.

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However, the figures cited by the Chief Minister and the Civil Supplies Minister on different occasions raise questions. The procurement target announced by the government was 90 lakh LMT. Against this target, the claimed procurement of 46.21 lakh LMT amounts to nearly half the target and not 80 percent. The government had also announced an allocation of around Rs 21,000 crore for procurement. Despite this, only Rs 7,841 crore had reportedly been paid to farmers till Thursday.

According to the Minister, the government procured 46.21 LMT out of the 54.29 LMT that arrived at Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs). Based on these figures, about 85 percent of the paddy reaching procurement centres was purchased. More than 6.32 lakh farmer transactions were completed, he said.

The Minister also accused the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of running a false and politically motivated campaign over paddy procurement. He maintained that the present procurement drive was being carried out on a much larger scale than during previous Rabi seasons under the BRS government.

However, these claims appear inconsistent with the assurances given by Uttam Kumar Reddy on May 6. Addressing the media at the Secretariat, he had said the government was implementing a strong procurement strategy and expected purchases to reach a new high.

At the time, the Minister stated that the government had fixed a procurement target of 90 lakh metric tonnes and allocated Rs 21,501 crore towards Minimum Support Price (MSP) payments to farmers. He had also said that paddy cultivation was taken up across 67 lakh acres in Telangana and that the State was expected to produce 141 lakh metric tonnes during the current Rabi season.