Govt. doing its utmost for ryots: Ministers

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 13. The Ministers for Civil Supplies and Agriculture, Dr N. Janardhan Reddy and Mr V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, have come down heavily on Congress, BJP and Communist leaders for alleging that the Government ``did nothing'' to protect the interests of ryots, and appealed to them not to politicise the ``sensitive issue'' and instead, extend cooperation in implementing the measures already initiated.

At a joint press conference here on Wednesday, they said, the charge was untrue and, rebutting the criticism, they elucidated the steps taken so far to clear the rice glut which was ``unprecedented'' this year starting with a fax message on October 12 by which district Collectors were asked to ensure purchases from farmers at minimum support price through the FCI and other channels and launch action if anybody obstructed the process.

The other steps taken included repeated representations to the Prime Minister and the Union Agriculture and Food Ministers, resulting in opening of FCI purchase centres, relaxation of restrictions on quality, allotment of more Central godown space and a firm FCI commitment to lift stocks. Moreover, they said, the Cabinet sub-committee dealing with the matter was not only consulting Opposition parties every Monday but was also implementing their suggestions if found productive. When such was the case, the Ministers said it was ``unfortunate'' that these parties had come out with a serious a charge. The BJP's stand was ``more surprising'' because, it, being in power at the Centre, was a party to all these decisions.

Dr Janardhan Reddy said district committees headed by the Joint Collector and comprising FCI district manager, district supply officer, joint director of agriculture, and assistant director of the Marketing Department were functioning in every district to clear the glut offering remunerative price to ryots.

Mr Reddy and Mr Rao described this year's situation as unprecedented, with rice stocks in the State going up to a peak of 137 lakh tonnes. This was so due to last year's undisposed stock of 15 lakh tonnes which added to 82 lakh tonnes out of kharif and 40 lakh tonnes expected under rabi. While 23 lakh tonnes were exported to other countries and 9 lakh tonnes to other States last year, such outside sales had not taken place this year so far. The real problem would arise regarding 30 lakh tonnes because, out of 140 lakh tonnes, the FCI would lift 50 lakh tonnes with the arrangement to give back 23 lakh tonnes out of this towards the subsidised rice scheme, while 65 lakh tonnes would go towards total consumption by people of the State.

The problem was compounded as there was little or no space left in FCI godowns in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka with the FCI still keeping nearly 9 lakh tonnes of last year's ``northern rice'' in them.

The Ministers, however, gave a commitment to lift 10 lakh tonnes each in December and January through FCI. The achievement under the initiatives and interventions was that there was "manifold improvement" in FCI approach and it quickened the pace. The quantum procured so far by this Central agency by October-end was 11.8 lakh tonnes compared to 7.4 lakh tonnes by this time last year.

Regarding paddy, the Agriculture Minister appealed to the farmers to ``clean and dry'' the produce before bringing it to purchasing centres for claiming a better price. The feedback secured from different marketyards was that ``fair and minimum quality'' paddy commanded even Rs 5-10 more than the MSP while it was that much less for the inferior quality produce.

Mr Rao said, there was certainly a change after the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar's visit to the State, and procurement was speeded up since yesterday. The plan was to procure 7 lakh tonnes through State Government's MARKFED and three lakh tonnes through FCI in the next few days. Since the Union Minister's visit, 6,770 tonnes had been procured, most of it through FCI.

The Minister refuted the criticism that MSP was not given at marketyards and, quoting prices of Sona Masoori, Samba Masoori, Surekha, 1001 and GR-II at Suryapet, Miryalaguda and other markets in the State, he said, the "model" (average) price for all of them revolved a little above the MSP at all these places.

He said, Congress leaders had no moral right to talk about the problems of ryots, as it was they who had signed the Dunkel proposals which were found ``detrimental'' to the interests of farmers.

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