No rice movement from North to South: Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 11. The Union Minister for Food, Mr. Shanthakumar, here on Monday assuaged the ruffled feelings of the ruling TDP by conceding all its major demands on rice procurement and other related issues.

After visiting Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts where he interacted with farmers and officials, the Union Minister announced that there would be no movement of rice from the North to either A.P. or the South. Hence, the AP Government could ensure movement of rice from the State to other parts of the country. That would speed up procurement by any agency and farmers would benefit, he said.

Talking to presspersons Mr. Shanthakumar said the problem was not confined to A.P. alone but to the entire country and due to surplus production of foodgrains farmers were facing problems. Out of one crore tonnes of rice procured last year by the FCI, 55 lakh tonne was from AP alone. This year it would be more than that, he said referring to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's claim that production in the State would be around one crore tonnes now.

He assured the State Government that the FCI would buy its quote of 3 lakh tonnes of paddy out of a 10 lakh tonnes target - the rest would be procured by the State Government - and urged the rice millers to ensure MSP to farmers. He ruled out any injustice to AP on this count, and said that any procurement of rice by the Centre would have to benefit AP farmers as it had a better transport and port network than Punjab.

The Centre had always conceded the demands of the TDP and there was no misunderstanding on any ground, he said, adding that the Centre was committed to the welfare of farmers. However, there was an urgent need to shift focus from paddy cultivation to oil seeds cultivation as there was a deficit of oil production.

The Chief Minister, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, hoped that the Centre would continue its positive response and help the State's farmers. The productivity and production in AP had gone up adding to the farmers.

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Section  : Southern States
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