Telangana to procure rain soaked paddy, assures Uttam

metro india news  I hyderabad

Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday assured farmers that the State Government would procure even rain soaked paddy without any hesitation and appealed to the farming community not to panic over the impact of unseasonal rains.

The Minister said the government was taking all necessary steps to ensure that farmers do not suffer any losses due to unexpected weather conditions. He stated that the wet paddy procured from purchase centres was being shifted immediately to boiled rice mills for processing.

Uttam Kumar Reddy revealed that nearly 9,214 metric tonnes of rain soaked paddy had already been transported to boiled rice mills. He reviewed the situation arising out of unseasonal rains through an emergency video conference along with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka,

Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, Cabinet colleagues, district collectors, police officials, transport authorities and Civil Supplies Department officials.

Reiterating that the Congress government was a farmer friendly administration, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the State Government was firmly committed to procuring every grain brought to procurement centres. He asserted that no action harming farmers’ interests would be tolerated.

Highlighting the scale of procurement operations, the Minister said Telangana had initiated procurement of a record 75 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current Rabi season, describing it as unprecedented in independent India’s history. So far, 66.75 lakh metric tonnes of paddy had arrived at procurement centres, out of which 57 lakh metric tonnes had already been procured.

The government has paid Rs 10,097 crore to farmers so far, benefiting nearly 8.15 lakh farmers across the State. Uttam Kumar Reddy said 44.67 lakh metric tonnes of the procured paddy comprised common varieties, while 12.33 lakh metric tonnes were fine varieties.