Centre rules out paddy purchase from Telangana

HYDERABAD: The talks held between the Centre and the Telangana government in Delhi late on Friday to break the deadlock over paddy procurement ended in failure as 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 PDS 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 put forth two major demands before the Centre. The first is to procure paddy from Telangana during rabi and the second is to declare annual paddy procurement target for Telangana clearly stating how much paddy the Centre will procure from Telangana during kharif and rabi seasons every year.

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

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. Goyal also stated that the Centre would form a committee to recommend measures on crop diversification and prescribe MSP for various crops and until the committee report came, it was not possible to declare annual procurement targets for every state.