Telangana to launch 10-day paddy procurement drive

Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy announced a 10-day special drive to complete paddy procurement across Telangana. The State government aims to clear pending stocks quickly while ensuring procurement of rain-soaked paddy affected by unseasonal rains

Hyderabad: Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday announced a 10-day special drive to complete paddy procurement across Telangana. He asked officials to ensure that every grain brought to procurement centres is purchased without further delay.

He chaired a high-level video conference with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponnam Prabhakar, Jupally Krishna Rao and Adluri Lakshman, senior officials and district collectors on Sunday.

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The State government had fixed a procurement target of 70-75 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) for the ongoing Yasangi (Rabi) season, assuring farmers that the entire stock would be procured despite operational challenges.

As of May 23, procurement centres had received 58.79 LMT of paddy, of which 50.01 LMT had already been procured, accounting for nearly 85 per cent of arrivals. Around 8.78 LMT remained pending and would be cleared within 72 hours, while another 16 LMT was expected from late-harvest districts over the next 10 days, officials said.

The Civil Supplies Department has set a daily procurement target of 3 LMT and intensified field-level operations to expedite lifting and transportation.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said the State government had already released Rs 8,749.82 crore towards Minimum Support Price (MSP) payments to farmers. He also directed officials to procure even rain-soaked paddy to prevent losses to farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

To support the large-scale procurement exercise, the government deployed 8,575 procurement centres, over 12,900 transport vehicles and 20.86 crore gunny bags across the State.