Uttam gives Jan 31 deadline to officials for delivery of rice to FCI

Hyderabad: Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday directed the officials to speed up delivery of rice to FCI by January 31.

The Minister, along with Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari, Civil Supplies Commissioner DS Chauhan and other officials chaired a video conference with District Collectors and officials. He said that the focus should be on expediting custom milling of rice by rice millers and handing it over to FCI. Expressing deep concern over pending custom milling of rice from civil supplies department to FCI, he explained that during a recent visit to Delhi, Central government officials there had asked for large allocations of rice, but complained of poor performance in deliveries.

The Minister stressed that the Civil Supplies Corporation has to supply 7.83 lakh metric tonnes of monsoon rice Rabi season to 35 lakh metric tonnes of rice by January 31. For this, all Telangana millers will have to deliver about 42 lakh metric tonnes of rice in the coming days, he said.

He pointed out that the Civil Supplies Corporation had taken loans to collect paddy from farmers and supply it to the millers. While the recovery of this investment depends on the millers supplying rice to FCI in the required quantity and quality. He said such delays have caused huge losses to the corporation in the last 9-10 years of Rs 58,000 crore in debt and Rs 11,000 crore losses have burdened the Civil Supply Corporation. Additionally, it was about Rs 3,000 crore annual interest burden. He said that there was no profit due to the millers keeping large reserves without timely distribution of rice.

He warned that the delay in distributing the fixed quantitey of CMR rice to FCI would have dire consequences on future allocations to Telangana. He stressed the need to improve procedures and streamline the process to ensure timely delivery of rice to FCI. Asking the District Collectors and officials to prioritize the distribution of rice for the future of the State Financial and Civil Supplies Corporation and with only 21 days left for the target deadline, he suggested setting daily targets to achieve the target.

The Minister expressed concern over the poor quality of PDS rice. He noted that the rice purchased by the Center and the states at Rs 39 per kg was being recycled or diverted for other purposes. The PDS calls rice ‘sacred’, emphasizing its importance in reaching the poor and preventing commercialization. Referring to the news that millers are polishing and recycling PDS rice to export at higher prices, he warned that strict action would be taken against such people. The officials were directed to deal with such cases very seriously.

Referring to the complaint received from the ration shop owners that they were getting 4-5 kg less rice per bag of rice, the minister directed the officials to investigate why the owners of the ration shops have to suffer due to the negligence of the government.