Uttam is certain that MSP procures paddy

In a thorough presentation on Monday, Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy refuted claims made by the opposition BRS and BJP about the state’s paddy procurement system, stating that it was never conducted with sincerity, integrity, or honesty following Telangana’s formation.

The minister gave farmers confidence that all paddy grains will be purchased at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) but also threatened the private companies that handle paddy procurement with dire consequences.

During a press conference held at Gandhi Bhavan with Sama Rammohan Reddy, the head of the TPCC media committee, Uttam refuted the claims of a fraud involving the worldwide bids that the Civil Supplies Corporation had called for the disposal of massive paddy inventories. He said that a number of BRS leaders, including former minister T Harish Rao and BRS MLA Jeevan Reddy, were making unfounded accusations about auctions and paddy procurement without any relevant experience.

Presenting a comparative analysis of paddy procurement during the former BRS regime and the present one, Uttam said that whereas 335 out of the 7031 paddy procurement centers were established under the BRS regime, the government has already established 6,619 of the 7,149 paddy procurement centers that are planned. He said that compared to the 233 metric tons (MT) of paddy that the BRS government purchased last year, the state government had already purchased 2,69,699 MT of paddy this year.

“In the month of April, the paddy procurement centers were never open. But this year, the necessary paddy procurement mechanism has been made available on schedule, and special clearance was received from the Center to begin the PCCs on March 25,” the minister stated.

Uttam refuted the claims about the paddy auction, stating that the MSP operations served farmers’ interests rather than the government’s financial gain. The purpose of MSP is to shield farmers against distressed sales. The government incurs losses in connection with several activities. Consider the acquisition of corn in Rabi 2019–20. He claimed, “The government bought maize for Rs 1,666 crore and sold it for merely Rs 960 crore.

The center approves the state’s purchase of 30 lakh MT of parboiled rice year 2023–2024.

For the Kharif and Rabi seasons of 2023–2024, the Center has sanctioned the purchase of 30 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of parboiled rice from Telangana. The state commissioner of food and civil supplies received a letter from Union Food and Public Distribution department under secretary Deependra Singh on Monday.