Telangana to Spend Rs.20K Crore for Paddy Purchase: Uttam

Hyderabad: Civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy announced on Wednesday that the state government had prepared a comprehensive plan for procuring paddy during the Kharif 2024-25 season. He informed that consultations are underway with other states on the export of kharif paddy.

Addressing the media after participating in a review with the rice millers along with Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu and IT minister D. Sridhar Babu, Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “We will treat the people, farmers and rice millers on equal footing. The system of seeking bank guarantees varies from one government to another. While some are seeking 100 per cent guarantee others are seeking 50 per cent. We are promoting fine rice varieties as they are in demand internationally. We are a pro-farmer government.”

Civil supplies principal secretary and commissioner D.S. Chauhan, principal secretary of agriculture Raghunandan, director of marketing Uday, and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The state government has constituted a four member cabinet sub-committee to study the issues in the paddy procurement and make recommendations to streamline the process. The committee will consist of Deputy Chief Minister, civil supplies minister, IT minister, and agriculture minister. It will also study other aspects such as renting godowns, bank guarantees from rice millers, milling charges for rice millers and storage issues of paddy. The commissioner of civil supplies will be the convener of the sub-committee.

The lack of storage space has been a problem for the TG civil supplies corporation as the company had to rely on private millers. This problem assumes importance as the millers have been suspected to be delivering rice to the FCI or the TGCSC from rice milled in the next season or supplying poorer quality rice sourced from the open market.

Millers opposed the guidelines issued recently and have been raising objections to the prerequisite of a 25 per cent bank guarantee for allocation of paddy 15 days in advance as per their milling capacity. New guidelines had also cited that a lessee miller would have to furnish a guarantee for 50 per cent of the paddy allotted. Millers have been seeking an increase in milling charges from `10 to `150, which they say was backed by Uttam Kumar Reddy when he participated in a dharna as the erstwhile TPCC president.

Rice Millers Association of Telangana presented a detailed report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee, outlining the critical challenges currently facing the industry. They said even large mills have witnessed a 55 percent to 60 percent decline in their operations due to reduced paddy procurement. Additionally, millers are facing severe financial strain due to delayed payments from the government, with dues pending since the 2016-17 procurement operations. They sought immediate financial and regulatory relief from the Cabinet Subcommittee.

Bhatti Vikramarka assured the millers that their issues would be discussed at the highest levels of the state government. He said the Cabinet Sub-Committee would submit a report with recommendations to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for final approval.

Sridhar Babu also acknowledged the importance of cooperation between the state and the rice milling industry, stressing that the state government is willing to offer full support to millers in achieving its paddy procurement objectives. He praised the revival of the Civil Supplies Department in the last ten months under the leadership of Uttam Kumar Reddy. He expressed confidence in the state’s approach to ensuring all stakeholders benefit from the government’s initiatives. (G Ram Mohan)