Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathi has said the government will purchase the paddy damaged during the Thane cyclone and also the crops damaged in canal breach near Kaikaluru in Krishna district.
Speaking at a review meeting on paddy procurement with Civil Supplies and DRDA officials here on Friday, the minister said that paddy crop in about 156 acres was damaged when Campbell canal bund was breached in Kaikaluru constituency recently.
The officials held discussions with some private companies who agreed to procure the discoloured paddy at Rs.700 per bag. As regards the paddy crops damaged in Challapalli, Mopidevi, Avanigadda and other areas in the recent Thane cyclone, the government will purchase the wet paddy and provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the ryots, said Mr.Parthsarathi.
103 Centres
During kharif season, the farmers produced 14.68 lakh metric tonnes in 2.70 lakh hectares in the district. The district administration has set up 103 paddy procurement centres of which 44 were being run by Indira Kranthi Padam groups (IKP women), 47 centres were being operated by Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) and the remaining are under the control of Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The rice millers and the IKP groups purchased 4.17 lakh metric tonnes from the farmers, said the minister and directed the DRDA officials to arrange more centres for speedy procurement of the paddy stocks.
Joint Collector Gaurav Uppal, District Supplies Officer T. Prabhakara Rao, Civil Supplies District Manager E. Chitti Babu, DRDA Assistant Project Director Sriram Murthy and others attended.
