Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Govt. announces procurement plans for rabi

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad April 11. The State Government here today announced details of the procurement operations for rabi to be grounded with immediate effect with a target to procure 30 lakh tonnes of rice and 15 lakh tonnes of paddy, and a decision to extend implementation of the Gruha Mithra scheme to the entire State from Ugadi day.

The Government also announced its decision for keeping in abeyance the disputed amounts under rural development (RD) cess payable by rice millers to the Commercial Taxes Department and also the sales tax on this cess, both until further orders. This, it was explained, was to avoid confusion prevailing among the rice-millers about the dues and keep them in good spirits for undertaking procurement in a big way, ensuring MSP to the farmers.

The Commissioner and the Director for Civil Supplies, S. P. Singh and G. Nageswara Rao, respectively told a press conference here on Thursday that the MSP rates of kharif would apply to rabi too as they were fixed for the entire year. Of the 30 lakh tonnes of rice targetted, 18 lakh tonnes would be raw rice and the rest boiled variety, the production of most of which was accounted by rabi. Further, an allotment of 5 lakh tonnes was kept as reserve to meet the unforeseen situations like failure of crop, cyclones, etc. Rice would also be exported based on the recommendations of the committee constituted on the subject which was expected to sit on April 15 and finalise the modalities. Out of the 15 lakh tonnes of paddy to be procured, 4.5 lakh tonnes would be procured by the FCI and 10.5 lakh tonnes by the Civil Supplies Corporation.

Mr Singh and Mr Nageswara Rao said Gruha Mithra counters would start functioning from Ugadi day from at least 150-250 fair price shops in each district, selling the listed 145 essential commodities and other daily needs--from rice, pulses and oils to soaps, cosmetics and textiles. Anybody, regardless of the ration cards, could buy the items, paying the stipulated prices which would be lower than that in the open market. Strict instructions were given to the fair price shops not to sell the items without packing and Agmark and BIS marks. Some Government agencies which were also making the bulk supplies of the commodities to the shops, were asked to obtain the Agmark and BIS marks within six months.

The Commissioner said the scheme was already under implementation at 150 shops in Hyderabad and 73 shops in Ranga Reddy district, and was "successful'' but the real impact would be known only after six months by which time the scheme was expected to stabilise itself with demands/preferences of consumers to be known by then. Mr Singh said the procurement operations for kharif were also "very successful'' with about 50 lakh tonnes of paddy bought from farmers by the FCI and the Civil Supplies Corporation. By the closure of the procurement season, the rice bought was of the order of 27.54 lakh tonnes, compared to 28.5 lakh tonnes of the target. In addition to this, 6.42 lakh tonnes of boiled rice was procured against a target of 7.5 lakh tonnes.

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