KCR issues directions to ensure paddy procurement from farmers

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday issued directions to official concerned to procure paddy from farmers regardless of the price and make payments to agrarians on time.

Quoting the CM, an official release said that there is a record and bountiful paddy production this year for the first time in the history of Telangana and as a result heavy quantities of paddy are reaching the Civil Supplies Purchasing Centres.

?He (KCR) said the state government is ready to spend any amount of money to purchase the Paddy and asked officials to arrange for the immediate payments to farmers without causing any delay. The CM said though the state government is releasing funds, it is taking sometime for the money to reach farmers and this delay should be eliminated," the release said.

The CM held a review meeting with Civil Supplies Commissioner CV Anand and other officials at Pragati Bhavan here today on the procurement of Paddy at the civil supplies procurement centres in the state.

The officials informed the CM that last year the procurement was 9 lakh tonnes and this year as of now, as much as 37 lakh tonnes of Paddy has already been procured and another 2 lakh tonnes is expected at the centres.

So far, 37 lakh tonnes of Paddy has been purchased at a cost of Rs 5,300 crore and of this, Rs 4,000 crore has already been paid to farmers. The CM asked the officials to pay the rest of Rs 1000 crore immediately, the release further said.