Minister for Finance T Harish Rao has directed all the district collectors to provide adequate arrangements for drying up the drenched paddy at the procurement centres and to purchase it later from farmers.
Speaking to the media after visiting an Agriculture Market in Siddipet here on Thursday, Minister Harish Rao said that the unseasonal rains received on Wednesday morning damaged the standing crops in thousands of acres and paddy brought to the procurement centres was drenched in the rain water across the State.
The Minister said that the State government has decided to purchase the drenched paddy after being dried up and the same has been informed to the officials concerned.
Harish Rao also accused the Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials of conducting the inspection of 2,900 rice mills in Telangana at a time when the paddy procurement is underway and termed it as a conspiracy of the union government.
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Alleging that the inspection of FCI is delaying the paddy procurement process in Telangana, the Minister said the Centre has taken a decision not to procure Yasangi harvest from the State and the Bhartiya Janat Party (BJP) led government is trying to create hurdles in paddy procurement even though the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, has decided to procure paddy by spending over Rs 3,000 crore from State government’s exchequer.
“In the name of inspection, the FCI authorities are making inspections halting the unloading of paddy from lorries. Since the delay in unloading is resulting in a delay in procurement and the paddy is also getting damaged by rains. The BJP led government is eventually trying to malign the image of the TRS government for political gain,” Harish Rao alleged.
Stating that they are not opposing the inspections, the Minister has suggested the FCI to carry out the inspections after one month when the paddy procurement of Yasangi would complete
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