Telangana has emerged as a major contributor to the nationwide procurement of paddy in the second crop cultivated this year.
The procurement at the national-level was about 50 lakh tonnes, of which the contribution by Telangana alone was 34.36 lakh tonnes as on Friday which is half the targeted prourement from the State for the season. Andhra Pradesh procured another 10 lakh tonnes.
Chairman and Managing Director of Food Corporation of India D.V. Prasad has said that the FCI was closely monitoring the procurement, movement and storing of food grains in the State. It was making sure that the State government lifted the entire allocation under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana which envisaged supply of 2.87 lakh tonnes of food grains to 191.62 lakh poor people affected by coronavirus. The allocation by the Centre to the State cost ₹1,100 crore.
The Telangana unit of FCI has moved 10.47 lakh tonnes of rice by 374 train loads, the highest ever till date in a month’s period, for distribution to poor in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Jharkhand. This healthy pace of operations amidst wide ranging challenges posed by lockdown was the outcome of team work between FCI and Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation, according to Mr. Prasad.
The movement of rice has created a vacant storage space of seven lakh tonnes in the godowns of the FCI. Presently, the corporation had a stock of 14 lakh tonnes, including 10.6 lakh tonnes of boiled rice and 2.95 lakh tonnes of raw rice, in the godowns. The total storage capacity of godowns of all agencies in the State was 60.13 lakh tonnes which effectively meant that a lot more space had to be vacated and additional space added to store about 70 lakh tonnes of rice targeted for procurement by the end of the season.
The FCI had also issued rice at a subsidised rate of ₹ 22 a kg to 57 charitable trusts and NGOs running relief camps for poor in view of lockdown.
