Telangana to buy 50 lakh tonnes paddy

Hyderabad: Civil supplies and irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday reiterated that the government would purchase at minimum support price (MSP), every foodgrain produced by farmers. He warned of stern action on anyone purchasing paddy or other produce below MSP.

He said the state government proposed to purchase 50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the rabi season, against AP (25 LMT), Odisha (10), Tamil Nadu (8) and Maharashtra (3.42 LMT).

He dismissed allegations levelled by BRS leaders of a scam in the global tenders called by the Civil Supplies Corporation to dispose of paddy stocks.

Speaking at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, he said BRS leaders T. Harish Rao and Jeevan Reddy were levelling baseless allegations and gave a detailed presentation on paddy procurement and auction during the BRS regime and under the Congress government.

"As of the current date, paddy procurement is significantly higher than the previous year," he said while sharing the district-wise breakdown of paddy purchased.

Unlike in the past, the minister said a special permission was taken from the Centre to start the paddy procurement centres (PPCs) on March 25. The government had ensured immediate transportation of paddy from the PPCs to the mills and payment of MSP through banks.

Explaining the auction of paddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that it was to benefit the farmers and not to earn profits.

Uttam Kumar Reddy clarified that the then BRS government had decided to auction the paddy grown in rabi 2022-23, on a representation given by the TS Rice Millers Association on June 7, 2023, that the grains were of inferior quality, damaged and discoloured and the yield of rice (out-turn ratio, OTR) was less.

"The BRS government tenders fetched an average price of Rs 1,702.51 per quintal though the paddy was only three months old. Consequently, the tenders were cancelled and floated again," he explained, "The tenders could not be floated again as the model code of conduct came into force for the Assembly elections.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress government set up a committee to suggest modalities and oversee the auctions. Accordingly, tenders were floated and finalised at an average price of Rs 2,022.50 per quintal, although the paddy was nine months old and deteriorated.

He said the reasons for calling tenders were failure to deliver rice in time leading to accumulation of stock, poor paddy quality, avoiding season overlap and recycling, creating space in mills and preventing damage and insect infestation.

The BRS regime tenders had failed to account for the cost of the gunny bags; the Congress government was charging the bidders extra for gunny bags.

He said that the Congress government expected to generate Rs 6,996,06 crore from the auction of 34,59,000 metric tonnes of paddy, against Rs 5,885.55 crore estimated during the previous regime.

He said that the Congress government has been taking measures to eradicate the rice ration mafia. Further, he said while the BRS regime depended on the rice millers for storage, while the Congress government was focused on constructing them.