TS procures grains worth Rs 88,000 Cr; Centre asks farmers to avoid sowing paddy

Hyderabad: Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman Mareddy Srinivas Reddy on Friday said the state government has procured 5.6 crore metric tons of grains worth Rs 88,000 crore in the last seven years.

Reddy said this is a new record in the country. He said the credit goes to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Telangana is one only state in the country to achieve this feat.

He said that the states were not coming forward to purchase entire grains due to financial constraints. But Telangana Chief Minister procures entire grain even though it is a financial burden.

Reddy said the state government has purchased 24.29 lakh metric tonnes of grains in 2014- 15, 23.56 lakh metric tonnes in 2015-16, 35.70 lakh metric tonnes in 2016-17, 53.99 lakh metric tonnes in 2017-18, 77.46 lakh metric tonnes in 2081-19, 1.11 crore metric tonnes in 2019-20, 1.41 crore metric tonnes in 2020-21.

He said so far 19 lakh metric tons of grains were purchased through the 5,703 paddy procurement centers. He said the restriction of paddy procurement by the Centre is very sad. The Centre should reconsider its decision keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers.

Meanwhile, the talks between the Centre and the Telangana government in New Delhi late on Friday to break the deadlock over the procurement of paddy ended in failure.

The Centre reiterated that it would not purchase paddy from Telangana during rabi. It asked Telangana not to sow paddy during rabi season.

The talks were held between Union minister for food and public distribution system Piyush Goyal and the Telangana delegation comprising ministers S. Niranjan Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Ch. Malla Reddy, chief secretary Somesh Kumar and senior officials of agriculture and civil supplies departments.

The state government asked the Centre to procure paddy from Telangana during rabi. The state delegation asked the Centre to declare the annual paddy procurement target.

The Centre rejected both these demands and categorically stated that it would not purchase paddy from Telangana. The Centre said it was also not possible to declare the annual paddy procurement target in advance.

Piyush Goyal asked the state government to tell farmers not to sow paddy during rabi henceforth as the Food Corporation of India will not purchase it.