Telangana Govt to purchase rain-soaked paddy upon drying it

Hyderabad: Much to the relief of farmers, the State government has decided to purchase the paddy which got soaked due to unseasonal rains in the past a few days. Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar asked the farmers to dry the soaked paddy and bring it to the purchase centres where paddy will be purchased as […]

Hyderabad: Much to the relief of farmers, the State government has decided to purchase the paddy which got soaked due to unseasonal rains in the past a few days. Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar asked the farmers to dry the soaked paddy and bring it to the purchase centres where paddy will be purchased as per the norms after testing the humidity.

In the wake of a weather forecast suggesting rains in the State over next a couple of days, the officials were kept on a high alert and were directed to take all measures to safeguard the paddy procured from farmers. They were instructed to shift the purchased paddy to the mills and other places to safeguard it from getting soaked. Further, they have been directed to keep adequate number of tarpaulin covers available at all the paddy purchase centres in coordination with the Marketing department.

---

The Minister who reviewed the status of the paddy procurement and other related issues here on Tuesday, said about 20.25 lakh metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs 3,961 crore has been purchased from 3.18 lakh farmers through 6,329 purchase centres. Of this, 19.2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been already shifted to the rice mills for milling.

With harvesting picking up pace, the paddy procurement has picked up pace in the State. Around two lakh metric tonnes of paddy is being purchased every day. While the Civil Supplies department gathered around 9.97 crore gunny bags, around 4.65 crore gunny bags have been utilised for paddy purchasing. Another 5.32 crore bags are available for paddy purchases.

Meanwhile, Kamalakar warned the millers against reducing the paddy quantity under the guise of wastage and would not hesitate to blacklist such millers. “Once the paddy is weighed at the purchase centres, the millers cannot weigh it again which is against the laws. The field officials must keep a watch on such mischief,” he added.