With the Telangana government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao procure paddy from the farmers, the procurement itself is turning into a new problem for the CM! Already the state has procured 50 lakh tonnes and the Union government has promised to take only 60 lakh tonnes while the scene looks like Telangan has more than what the centre was procuring! This is what is turning out to be problematic for KCR and his government.
Paddy Pains
It is being said that the state will procure another 25 lakh tonnes by the end of the season. The additional 15 lakh tonnes will be a big problem since the Union government has promised to take on 60 lakh tonnes. KCR and public distribution minister Gangula Kamalakar are meeting today discuss how to handle the additional paddy. The minister has already met officials and took stock of the situation. It is being said that a decision about the additional paddy procurement will be taken today!
Till date, the Corporation has procured more than 50 lakh tonnes paddy worth around Rs 10,000 crore from nine lakh farmers through 6,849 procurement centres. This is 13 lakh tonnes more than 37 lakh tonnes paddy procured for the corresponding period during the last Vaanakalam season. Despite the unseasonal rains and Covid-19 restrictions, the paddy procurement has been completed in 1,810 centres across 14 districts. Farmers were advised not to worry about sale of their farm produce as the government will purchase entire paddy crop in the state as per instructions of the CM.
The Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation chairman Mareddy Srinivas Reddy said Telangana witnessed a significant increase in paddy procurement over the last seven years since the State formation. Due to the visionary leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, he said farmers in Telangana cultivated paddy and produced more than one crore tonnes last year, setting new records.
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Already, five lakh tonnes of paddy that was procured during last season is lying in the state corporation and now additional 25 lakh tonnes will turn into a bigger burden than imagined by the state government. According to sources at Pragathi Bhavan, anticipating more paddy, the CM had been requesting and demanding the Union government to consider procuring more paddy from Telangana, unfortunately it was made into a big political issue by state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and the centre also has been dodging the request without spelling out its stand clearly.
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