Gadwal: On Saturday, Minister of State Civil Supplies, Uttam Kumar Reddy, held a video conference from the Secretariat in Hyderabad. He spoke with senior state officials and district collectors from across all districts to assess the ongoing paddy procurement process.
During the meeting, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy stressed the importance of the paddy procurement process for the government. He urged district collectors to personally supervise the process to ensure everything runs smoothly. He also mentioned that the government had invested several thousand crores of rupees into the initiative. To further encourage the cultivation of high-quality paddy, the government announced a bonus of Rs. 500 per quintal.
District Collector B.M. Santosh gave instructions to ensure that all procurement centers are fully functional according to the district’s plans. He also asked officials to ensure each center is equipped with necessary tools like paddy cleaners. Moreover, he advised that coarse and fine varieties of paddy should not be brought to the same center. Before any purchase, quality checks must be done to avoid losses for farmers. Additionally, farmers need to be informed to dry their paddy before bringing it to the centers.
The Collector also mentioned that rice millers receiving paddy must provide a bank guarantee, as required by the government. If millers fail to do so, alternative storage arrangements, such as intermediate godowns, should be set up for the paddy. He emphasized that payments to farmers should be completed within 48 hours, which is a significant improvement. Furthermore, strict measures should be taken at state borders to stop paddy from neighboring states from being brought into Telangana’s procurement centers.
Several officials attended the video conference, including Additional Collector (Revenue) Lakshminarayana, District Civil Supplies Officer Swami Kumar, District Manager of Civil Supplies Vimal, DCO Prasad Rao, and representatives from the Agriculture and DRDO departments.
