FCI will continue to procure milled rice till February 28, says Gangula Kamalakar

KARIMNAGAR: BC welfare minister Gangula Kamalakar on Saturday announced that with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s intervention, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has agreed to procure Custom Milled Rice (CMR) of the Rabi season till February 28.

Of the 43 lakh metric tonnes of CMR procured, rice millers have already handed over to FCI about 37 lakh metric tonnes till December 31. Subsequently, FCI officials were requested to extend the date for procurement of remaining CMR from rice millers. But there was no clear response.

The issue was thus brought to the notice of Chief Minister, who immediately took up the issue with FCI authorities. Following this, FCI has decided to continue procuring CMR from rice millers until February 28, Kamalakar stated.

He asked rice millers to hand over the remaining six lakh metric tonnes of CMR to FCI as early as possible without waiting until the last minute.

As land under cultivation is increasing year after year, farmers are getting good profits. About 48.42 lakh metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs. 9,138 crore has been purchased from around 10.92 lakh farmers.

Further, about Rs. 8,696 crore of minimum statutory price has already been deposited into the bank accounts of farmers. Following the procurement, 6,139 purchasing centres of the total 6,505 have already been shut down.
With constant efforts put in by CM KCR since past six years, agricultural scenario has changed in its entirety with enormous growth, BC welfare minister underlined.