Agriculture Minister lauds babus on successful conduct of ISTA

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Wednesday congratulated the officials of the agriculture and other departments for the successful conduct of the International Seeds Testing Association (ISTA), 32nd International Congress in Hyderabad.

Interacting with senior officials of the Agriculture department, the Minister said Telangana has got global attention with the conduct of the ISTA Congress, held for the first time in Asia, at Hyderabad. Further, the Minister also congratulated State Seeds Certification Agency Director Dr Kesavulu, on his elections as the vice-president of the standing committee of ISTA.

The Minister in particular appreciated Principal Secretary Agriculture C Partha Sarathi for his the meticulous planning, coordination and execution in successfully conducting an international meet like the ISTA Congress.

Later, the Minister who is also looking after the cooperatives has asked the senior officials of that department to ensure strict compliance of auditing of all the cooperative societies in the State. He also asked the officials to conduct inquiries in case of complaints received against any society.

Similarly, he directed them to conduct elections to the governing bodies of the cooperative societies in time. During a review meeting with the officials of the marketing department, Niranjan Reddy stressed the need to create awareness among the farmers on the e-Naam platform and also integrate the same with the exiting market yards in the State.

Due to the arrival of the monsoon, he also asked the officials to prevent the paddy stocks exposed to rains, for this, he suggested shifting the paddy to the Gaddi Annaram Market Yard. Revising the steps taken for the construction of the market yard at Wanaparthy, the Minister asked to bring Damaragidda market under the Narayanapet Market Yard.

That part, officials from the State Warehousing Corporation have handed over a cheque of Rs 75 lakh to the Minister towards the payment of dividend to the State government. The officials told the Minister that the corporation has earned Rs 26.74 crore in profits during the financial year 2017-18. The corporation has declared a dividend of Rs 3.5 crore and presented the cheque to the Minister as part of the payment of dividend to the State government.