Telangana to procure all rabi paddy at MSP

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Telangana Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, has said the State Government will procure all the rabi paddy at the minimum support price (MSP). He said strict action would be taken against traders and millers who have purchased paddy or other produce below MSP.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he dismissed allegations made by the BRS on the government’s move to sell paddy through global tenders. “They are leveling baseless allegations, lacking subject knowledge of either paddy procurement or auction,” he said.

Reddy gave a detailed PowerPoint presentation providing comparative figures of paddy procurement and auctions during the erstwhile BRS regime and the Congress Government.

“The number of paddy procurement centres went up to 7,149 this year, as against 7,031 centres last year. While only 335 PPCs were opened by April 14 last year, this year, as of March 25, a total of 6,919 centres had been opened,” he said.

“With 50 lakh tonnes, Telangana tops the list of states in rice procurement estimates for the rabi season. The procurement estimates for Andhra Pradesh stood at 25 lt, followed by Odisha with 10 lt, and Tamil Nadu,” he said.