Does TS wants to scrap Rs 1 per kg rice scheme?

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy sought to know whether the Telangana State government intends to scrap Rs 1 kg rice scheme and let the poor, and students in its residential schools go hungry without food? Addressing the media in Delhi on Tuesday, the Union Minister alleged that the TRS-led Telangana State government was acting irresponsibly by not procuring the agreed quantity of paddy from growers despite getting assurance from Union Minister Piyush Goyal that Centre would procure every grain of paddy grown in Kharif from Telangana.

He said that the Civil Supplies departments supply rice through the public distribution scheme, for which, the Centre provides Rs 30 subsidy per kilogram. The State government provides Rs 2 subsidy to provide Rs 1 per kilogram rice scheme. "If the State government claims that it will not procure paddy in future. Does it mean that it wants to scrap Rs 1 per kilogram rice scheme?" he asked. The subsidised rice is being supplied to schools of SC, ST, BC and Minorities, besides Women and Child Welfare Department. Does it mean that the State government doesn't want Rs 3 kg rice from the Centre? he asked.

Accusing the TRS of spreading a bitter propaganda against the Centre, BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after its defeat in the Huzurabad bypoll, the Union Minister has asked the State government not to mislead farmers aand create fears among them. Instead, provide the necessary seed to address the issues it had raised.

He said that the entire family of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao staged a protest at Indira Park, and their MPs too were doing the same in the ongoing Parliament sessions. "It is better if the State government completes the process of procurement rather than staging protests," he suggested, informing that the procurement of paddy grown during Rabi would be decided at the meeting to be held with civil supplies departments of all States in February.