Uttam urges swift paddy procurement across State

Hyderabad: Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy directed officials to expedite paddy procurement across Telangana.

He was addressing the Cabinet Sub-Committee on paddy procurement on Friday evening. Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Sridhar Babu, and Ponnam Prabhakar, Principal Secretary and Civil Supplies Commissioner DS Chauhan, senior officials, and representatives from the milling industry attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed satisfaction with the procurement arrangements in most of the districts and also mentioned that the arrangements need to be faster in some districts. He asked the Civil Supplies Commissioner and department officials to procure and shift the paddy to intermediary godowns wherever millers are not cooperating. He said that 30 lakh metric tonnes of godown space had been arranged with the state warehousing corporation. Whatever the additional cost involved for storage in intermediary godowns and then giving it custom milling will be borne by the government. But the main point is farmers should not be inconvenienced anywhere in the state, he said.

He directed officials to address grievances and complaints with urgency. He highlighted that Telangana is expected to achieve a record yield of nearly 150 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, making this year’s procurement process historic in terms of scale, operations, and volume. Additionally, he announced that all farmers would receive a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for fine paddy.

He emphasised that the upcoming 10-15 days are critical and that farmers should not face distress. The government is prepared to incur additional expenses if required to ensure seamless procurement. He directed officials to promptly resolve any issues with millers to avoid delays in procurement, ensuring that farmers face no hardships and that their payments are processed without delay.