Centre\'s relief to TS Govt: Extends deadline for kharif rice procurement
HYDERABAD: In a relief to Telangana state government, the Centre’s Food Corporation of India has extended the deadline by one month until November 30 to hand over rice stocks of the previous kharif season 2021-22 after milling. It also agreed to procure an additional four lakh tonnes of fortified boiled rice stocks from the state pertaining to recent rabi season 2021-22.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, minister for civil supplies Gangula Kamalakar said that the relaxations given by the Centre on rice procurement will benefit the state exchequer to the tune of nearly Rs. 180 crore.
The deadline to hand over rice stocks of previous kharif season to the FCI meant for public distribution system (PDS) will end on October 31.
However, the state government is yet to hand over over five lakh tonnes due to delay in milling. The state government has been making repeated requests to the FCI to increase the deadline as it would suffer losses if rice stocks are not procured after the October 31 deadline.
The state government also made repeated requests to Centre to procure an additional four lakh tonnes of fortified parboiled rice pertaining to the recent rabi season. The Centre has earlier agreed to procure only eight lakh tonnes of fortified boiled rice from Telangana.
However, due to heavy paddy stocks of rabi season lying in rice mills, the state government requested Centre to consider taking additional boiled rice stocks. The Centre refused to accept boiled rice stocks from rabi season last year and agreed to take only raw rice after milling. Due to this, the state government is supplying raw rice even in rabi season compared to earlier when it used to supply boiled rice to the FCI.
Normally, boiled rice is produced from paddy stocks in rabi season in Telangana due to prevailing heat conditions in summer. As the Centre refused to accept boiled rice, the state government is producing raw rice even during the rabi season and incurring huge losses as it is resulting in production of broken rice during milling.
Following the state government’s request, the Centre considered taking eight lakh tonnes of boiled rice but with fortification with vitamins and minerals for supply under the PDS earlier and an additional four lakh tonnes now.
