TS government cries foul over FCI\'s U-turn on rice procurement

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has raised objection over the “sudden” change of stand by Food Corporation of India (FCI) on rice procurement and this is causing huge losses to the state government.

State civil supplies corporation chairman Mareddy Srinivas Reddy said on Monday FCI had written to the civil supplies corporation, saying that it will purchase 40 per cent boiled rice and 60 per cent raw rice from Telangana for the recently concluded rabi season against its earlier decision to procure 90 per cent of boiled rice and 10 per cent raw rice.
 

Addressing a press conference here, Reddy said relying on FCI's earlier decision, the civil supplies corporation had procured 92 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from farmers for rabi season and transported stocks to rice mills for processing.

Of this, the FCI has to purchase 63 lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice for the PDS (public distribution system). The state government has already handed over 15.35 lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice to FCI, he said.

Reddy said, in a change of stand, the FCI has now written to the corporation saying that it will procure only another 9 lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice.

"How can FCI do this after the state government procured paddy from farmers? It has been a tradition for decades even in Undivided AP that we give 90 per cent boiled rice to FCI as raw rice is not suitable for production during rabi in summer. We have taken up this issue with Chief Minister KCR and the civil supplies minister. What we should do with the leftover 60 lakh tonnes of boiled rice at this stage if the FCI refuses to do the purchase," he asked.
 

Reddy said the TS government took loans of over Rs 25,000 crore to procure paddy from farmers for MSP in rabi and “we have to repay the loans after FCI purchases our stocks.”