Row over paddy procurement between T govt & Centre comes to fore again

New Delhi / Hyderabad: Ahead of the Kharif season, which is expected to yield bumper paddy crop this year, a row over paddy procurement between the Telangana government and the Centre came to the fore again. Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal has said that an audit team will be deployed to Telangana to verify the alleged irregularities in the procurement process. Goyal said the ministry instructed the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure paddy directly from farmers.

Within hours after the Centre pulled up the TS government for not distributing rice to the poor under PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana) and the State's failure in taking action against defaulter rice mills through a letter on Wednesday, the Union minister spoke to the media in New Delhi.

He criticised Telangana saying it was not supporting the FCI to complete the procurement process. His ministry already announced that the Centre was ready to procure paddy and also raw rice, but the State government created hurdles, the Union minister said that the Centre was ready to extend all assistance to Telangana in the paddy procurement. "It is unfortunate the State government was indulging in political slugfest with the Union government on the particular issue".

He said the Telangana government failed to rein in default millers and distribute food grains under PMGKAY in the State forcing the Centre to stop further rice receipts under the Central pool. The investigation report disclosed that the TS government has already lifted considerable quantity (1.9 lakh metric tonnes) of stocks in April and May this year, but the same has not been distributed and deprived the benefits to the beneficiaries of the Central scheme.

The Centre took serious note of the defaulted millers where shortages had been noticed and asked the State to take action. Goyal said the State government has been asked to address the issue of stocks in rice mills immediately and furnish concrete action taken report for further action by FCI. But, the State remained silent.

The Union minister came down heavily on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the State ministers for criticising the Centre and politicising the paddy procurement issue. "The unparliamentarily words used by the CM and the ministers are uncalled for ", he said, alleging that the government was not pro-poor despite the Centre's commitment to distribute rice free of cost under the Central scheme.