Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has said that the Congress Government is committed to implementing its promises of providing LPG cylinder at ₹500 and bonus of ₹500 per a quintal of paddy, forming part of the party’s six guarantees within hundred days of coming to power.
The details of the exact number of beneficiaries under the Mahalakshmi scheme envisaging provision of gas cylinders at ₹500 are being worked out and the Government will soon put in place a new system for effective implementation of the scheme. The scheme could cost about ₹3,000 crore to ₹4,000 crore a year to the State exchequer.
Capt. Uttam Kumar Reddy conducted a detailed meeting with the Civil Supplies department officials to understand the functioning of the department. He emphasised the crucial role played by the department in serving the State’s 2.9 crore population, particularly the underprivileged sections through the public distribution system. The department was handling the paddy procurement operation as well.
Referring to new ration cards, he said there were 89.98 lakh food security cards in theState with around 11.02 lakhs applications for new cards pending. Cardholders were getting 6 kg of rice for free, of which the Centre was providing 5 kg under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and the State was providing 1 kg.
He lamented that 11 per cent of the intended beneficiaries were not using their ration cards and said he would take the matter to the notice of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for deciding on the State Cabinet on the issue of new ration cards. Also, close to 90% of the rice being provided by the Centre and State Governments spending ₹39.02 a kg was not edible forcing the beneficiaries to sell away the poor quality rice. “The very purpose of supplying free rice to the poor through PDS is not being achieved,” he said.
He directed the Civil Supplies Department officials to conduct an in-depth study on the quality of rice being supplied to the ration card holders. “If the rice being given to the poor people is not edible, then the entire purpose is lost,” he said, directing the officials concerned to identify and rectify the lapses in the functioning of the corporation, especially in the management of IKP centres.
Capt. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government of ruining the Civil Supplies Corporation’s financial health. The BRS Govt never supported the corporation financially and prompted it to take loans from outside agencies while giving guarantees. Consequently, the Civil Supplies Department had outstanding debts of ₹52,067.03 crore which was alarming and the seriousness of the situation could be gauged from the fact that the department had to pay ₹3,645 crore towards interest on these loans, he said.
The Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation reported ₹11,449 crore losses including ₹5,226 crore due to the non-release of subsidy by the Centre and the State Governments, while another ₹6,222 crore losses were on account of MSP operations. Stating that the Centre owed ₹4,256 crore as of October 31, he said he would take up the matter with Union Minister Piyush Goyal during his visit to New Delhi.
He said that the situation needs to be improved by taking some immediate, short-term and long-term measures. He hinted at overhauling the entire functioning of the department. Slamming the previous Government for ruining all the departments, he said the Energy Department had accumulated debts of over ₹81,000 crore while the Irrigation Dept had pending bills of nearly ₹10,000 crore.
“We have learnt that the Civil Supplies Department had procured loans of over ₹50,000 crore. Previous BRS Government has ruined all the departments and corporations through financial mismanagement,” he said.
Published - December 12, 2023 05:36 pm IST
