CM writes to Centre on rice procurement

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 2. There is an immediate need to despatch five lakh tonnes of boiled rice, stored in Food Corporation of India godowns in Andhra Pradesh, to other States in the South in order to mop up the existing godown space in various warehouses so that the FCI can procure at least 10 lakh tonnes of rice during December.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, wrote a letter to the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Mr. Shanta Kumar, saying that similar action was needed for January also. He said that at present, there was enough godown space to procure only 2,30,000 tonnes of rice, and if the FCI did not procure rice, it will have a cascading effect on purchase of paddy by rice millers. According to an official press note, the Chief Minister said that it was also imperative that the FCI should enter the market in a big way and procure paddy from farmers at the minimum support price. He wanted that the FCI should immediately release Rs. 4.44 crores to the AP MARKFED to sustain procurement of maize.

The Chief Minister said that AP MARKFED was appointed an agency for procurement of maize at Rs. 445 per quintal under the decentralised procurement programme. The Centre agreed to advance Rs. 5.44 crores to AP MARKFED, and the MARKFED purchased maize worth Rs. 3 crores. The FCI, however, advanced only Rs. 1 crore.

Mr. Naidu also wanted the Centre to relax norms for purchase of groundnut, with 65 per cent shelling and 5 per cent foreign matter, instead of the existing norms of 70 per cent and 2 per cent. The prices of groundnut pod are ranging between Rs. 1,100 and Rs. 1,200 well below the minimum support price.

At a review meeting today, the Chief Minister asked officials of revenue earning departments such as Commercial Taxes, Registration and Stamps, Transport, Mines and Geology and Excise as to why collections were falling in some districts.

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Section  : Southern States
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