‘We are ready to buy raw rice as agreed upon’

State govt. on vicious campaign against Centre: Kishan

Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G. Kishan Reddy strongly rebuffed the allegations made against the Centre by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and other Ministers on procurement of paddy from farmers stating that there was no truth in it. He said the Chief Minister and his Ministers were on a vicious campaign against Centre and creating wrong impression among farmers for reasons best know to them.

“We have never said that we will not procure rice from the state. We have already entered into an agreement with the State government to procure about 40 lakh matric tonnes of rice. Again the State government said about 90 lakh matric tonnes of paddy was being grown in the State and hence there was a need to increase it. Later they said that with ‘eye survey’ it seems the cultivation has increased to 108 lakh matric tonnes. In 2014-15, the Centre has procured ₹ 3,404 crore worth of rice from Telangana whereas it was increased to ₹26,641 crore in 2020-21. How can the Ministers allege that the Centre is against farmers in the state?” questioned Mr. Kishan Reddy while speaking to reporters here on Saturday. He said there was no clarity for the State government on in the area of paddy and it had unnecessarily roping in farmers in the issue.

“Farmers will grow only paddy and it was the responsibility of the State government to procure, mill and hand it over to the centre. I want to clarify that farmers will grow only paddy and are milling it as parboiled or raw rice will be with millers. The State Government should speak with millers and settle the issue. For the past three years we have been repeatedly saying that there was a large stock of boiled rice and we could procure no more. We will decide what to do with the stock piled up,” said Mr. Kishan Reddy adding that the entire expenditure to procure paddy would be borne by the Centre and even 8.5 per cent interest would also be paid to State.

The Union Minister also wondered why the issue was raked up only after the results of Huzurabad by-election results and what was the issue when the Centre was ready to buy raw rice as agreed upon.