Telangana govt failed to purchase paddy from farmers: Piyush Goyal in LS

Hyderabad: Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the Telangana government has failed to purchase paddy from the farmers.

"It is the responsibility of the Telangana government to procure paddy and supply rice to the central government. The central government has no role in paddy procurement as Telangana is a Decentralised Procurement (DCP) state," Piyush Goyal said while replying to a supplementary question by Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Union Minister again blamed the Telangana government for not supplying rice to the Centre as per the agreement signed with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) according to the schedule.

Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the situation in Telangana is alarming due to the failure of central and state governments to procure rice. He said a large number of paddy farmers are ending their lives.

Goyal, however, said Uttam Kumar's supplementary question has nothing to do with the main question on food security schemes raised by Sajda Ahmed of Trinamool Congress. Refuting Uttam Kumar's allegations, he said the Centre not procuring rice from Telangana was 'false propaganda being carried out time and again'.

"The FCI approved record procurement of rice from Telangana, which is a Decentralised Procurement (DPC) state and the FCI does not buy paddy directly. The state government procures paddy and delivers rice to the FCI," he said.

The Union Minister said the central government had already given four-five extensions to the state government for supplying rice of Yasangi season, but it was not done. "We are ready to give another extension and request the Telangana government to supply the pending rice stocks at the earliest," he said.

Earlier, Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti gave a written answer in response to the question raised by Uttam Kumar Reddy during the Question Hour. She claimed there has been no delay on the part of the Union government in procuring the paddy crop of Kharif 2021-22.

During the States and Union Territories Food Secretaries meeting held on August 17, the procurement period of paddy for Telangana was fixed from October 1 of 2021 to January 31 of 2022 by the Centre in consultation with the state government. Accordingly, the paddy procurement for Kharif 2021 season has already commenced through state agencies and 16.14 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured up to November 30.