AP Releases Rs 1,000 Crore to Farmers for Paddy Procurement

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has released Rs 1,000 crore for procurement of paddy from farmers.

Civil supplies minister Nadendla Manohar told the media here on Thursday that the amount was released against the existing total dues of Rs 1,659 crore to farmers. Payment would be made to nearly 50,000 farmers from whom paddy was procured.

The paddy procurement dues would be released district-wise. West Godavari would get Rs 565.95 crore, East Godavari Rs 121.96 crore, the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema Rs 163.59 crore, Kakinada Rs 21.92 crore, Eluru Rs 19.96 crore and Bapatla-6.61 crore.

The minister said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM K. Pawan Kalyan responded positively to the farmers’ request for sanction of the funds and release of the dues to them.

He said the civil supplies corporation carried a debt of Rs 36,300 crore and vowed efforts to overcome the crisis.

The minister lashed out at former MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar’s family for its alleged involvement in the illegal transport of rice from the Kakinada port and said the network had spread to all the districts. “In a week’s time, we seized 35,404 metric tonnes of rice worth Rs 159 crore,” he said and vowed to take action against the culprits.

He explained the operations of the ration rice mafia by saying that huge amounts were swindled by the racketeers. “A kg of rice is being provided to the beneficiary at Rs 1 and, in this process, both the Centre and the state government incurred an expense of Rs 45.33 per kg. Such rice was being purchased at Rs 7 a kg and exported from the Kakinada Port by this racket.”

The civil supplies corporation incurred a loss of Rs 1,500 crore, as 9,260 Mobile Dispensing Units were purchased by the previous government. “We will take a decision whether to continue them or not.”