Telangana not to set up paddy procurement centres in Yasangi

Hyderabad: The State government will not set up paddy procurement centres in the ensuing Rabi season as the Union Government has ruled out lifting parboiled rice from Telangana. Disclosing this at a media conference Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao slammed the Centre for running away from its social responsibility. The Telangana government does not have […]

Hyderabad: The State government will not set up paddy procurement centres in the ensuing Rabi season as the Union Government has ruled out lifting parboiled rice from Telangana.

Disclosing this at a media conference Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao slammed the Centre for running away from its social responsibility.

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The Telangana government does not have the financial capacity to purchase paddy from the farmers nor the infrastructure to stock them, he said. However, the government will buy the entire paddy produced during the current Kharif season. Rao said though the Centre has not agreed to enhance the procurement target beyond 40 lakh tonnes, the State government will procure the entire paddy despite the losses it has to bear.

He said the Centre has agreed to buy only 40 lakh tonnes during the ongoing season though the production is expected to be 90 lakh tonnes. He warned that the paddy not procured by the Centre during the current season will be dumped at the offices of the BJP and at the India Gate in Delhi.

KCR pointed out that during Rabi, it is only the parboiled rice which is cultivated due to high temperature in February-March.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief came down heavily on the Centre for not fixing the annual target of raw rice it is going to procure from the State. KCR pointed out that during Rabi, it is only the parboiled rice which is cultivated due to high temperature in February-March.

The Chief Minister chief came down heavily on the Centre for not fixing the annual target of raw rice it is going to procure from the State.
“The government can’t view every issue in terms of profit and loss. It also has a social responsibility,” he said.

He said that it is the Constitutional duty of the Centre to procure food grains, distribute them through the Public Distribution System (PDS) and maintain buffer stocks to ensure food security and to make the country self-sufficient in food grains production.

He alleged that ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, it was adopting “anti-farmer, anti-poor and anti-middle class” policies.

He alleged that the BJP government killed 750 farmers by bringing three farm laws and Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew the same and apologised to farmers out of fear of losing elections in Uttar Pradesh and other States.

Stating that India ranks below Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal in global hunger index, he ridiculed the claims by the Centre that it can’t buy more rice as stocks were piling up. He said the Modi government should address the issue of hunger by free distribution of rice among the needy.

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