Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal has blamed the TRS government totally for the delay in paddy procurement and said despite several extensions the Centre was yet to procure paddy produced in the kharif of last year and pass it on to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
In reply to a question from Nalgonda MP and former TPCC president, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Minister said the Central government did not procure paddy but only rice, and it was the state government’s responsibility of procuring paddy and then give rice to the FCI.
Mr. Uttam Reddy, who raised the question, blamed both BJP and the Telangana Rashtra SAmithi (TRS )governments saying their total confusion, incompetence and lack of foresight had dealt a deadly a blow to paddy farmers of Telangana.
In response to the Minister’s statement, he asked if the Central government did not procure paddy, for whom it was it announcing the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
“Is it for the rice millers or farmers,” he asked.
He said the Minister had earlier given a written reply to him that the Central government was procuring paddy and also listed out the quantity of paddy procured in the last five years. As per the Minister’s written reply the government procured 53.67 lakh metric tonnes in 2016-17 followed by 54 lakh MT in 2017-18; 77.46 MT in 2018-19; 111.26 MT in 2010-20 and 141.11 MT in 2020-21 years, he said.
Blaming the TRS he said on August 17, 2021 the TRS government had accepted the procurement period from October 2021 to January 2022 for 40 lakh MT of rice (equivalent to 60 lakh MT of paddy) out of paddy produced in kharif of 2020 while smaller states like Punjab and Haryana had said they would procure 113 lakh tonnes of rice and 40 lakh tonnes by November 15 respectively.
The delay by the TRS government and the unseasonal rains drenching the paddy have caused severe farmer distress in Telangana.
