TS govt to set up 7,100 procurement centres to purchase paddy from Tuesday

Hyderabad: The state government has decided to set up procurement centres from Tuesday to purchase paddy from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) for ongoing rabi (yasangi) season, as directed by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

Ministers T. Harish Rao, Gangula Kamalakar and S.Niranjan Reddy finalised the modalities at a meeting at BRKR Bhavan on Monday. Chief Secretary A.Santhi Kumari, additional collectors, civil supplies officials, depot managers of all districts besides officials from Food Corporation of India (FCI) attended the meeting.

The government has decided to set up check posts along the state border to prevent paddy from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh from being brought into Telangana state and sold here. Several such cases had been reported earlier, in view of Telangana state offering a higher price for paddy.

The ministers directed collectors to prepare an action plan in this regard. They said the government has decided to set up 7,100 centres at the villages to procure paddy from farmers directly. They instructed officials to take a decision on the number of centres based on the quantum of paddy production expected in their respective districts.

The ministers directed officials to take steps to recover rice stock arrears of previous kharif season from rice millers by April 30