TS faces gunny bag crunch

Hyderabad: The paddy procurement by the State government, which would begin from Friday, is facing shortage of gunny bags. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who reviewed the arrangements for paddy procurement here on Thursday, asked the officials to seek the assistance of Jute Commissioner of India, Kolkata, in procuring the gunny bags.

State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who is heading the official committee to monitor paddy procurement, briefed the Chief Minister about the shortage of the gunny bags.

Officials said that at least 15 crore gunny bags would be required for paddy procurement during the season. But the State has only 1.50 crore bags. Since the gap between demand and supply is high, the government has decided to buy second-hand gunny bags from the West Bengal government. Orders will also be sent to the Jute Commissioner, the official agency to procure new bags from private agencies and supply them to the State to meet the rabi demand.

In the past too, the State government had sought the help of the West Bengal government and Jute Commissioners for the supply of gunny bags when paddy production hit new record of one crore lakh metric tonnes. This time also, the total procurement of paddy would be around 60 lakh metric tonnes. "Online tenders will be invited to procure used and new gunny bags and finalise bidding immediately this week," officials said.

Sources said that the reason for the huge shortage of gunny bags was due to the non-submission of proposals to the Centre on the procurement of paddy by the State government. Normally, the Union Civil Supplies Ministry facilitates the availability of gunny bags if the State informs the ministry on the procurement details in advance.

The Chief Minister also instructed the Civil Supplies department to make necessary transport arrangements to shift paddy to nearby market yards and godowns in the wake of weather alerts that unseasonal rains may hit the State in April.