Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao meets Piyush Goyal, raises paddy issue

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday called on Union Minister for Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Food Piyush Goyal and reportedly renewed his plea for procurement of the entire lot of the parboiled rice from the last Rabi season in Telangana.

Ever since Piyush Goel had made no bones about not taking Rabi paddy from Telangana from next season, which is fit only for conversion into parboiled rice, and fixing a quota for the last Rabi paddy, the Chief Minister is under pressure to persuade the Centre to procure entire Rabi paddy, which the State had procured from farmers by borrowing about `2,000 crore. When Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar made a representation to Goyal recently, the Centre had expressed helplessness in procuring parboiled rice as it has stocks that can last for five years.

The State produced 92 lakh tonnes of paddy, which the government procured from farmers and moved it to rice mills for conversion into parboiled rice. The State government now says that it is the responsibility of the Centre to procure the entire stock after the State reserves a portion of it for distribution through the PDS.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister attended a conference of chief ministers of 10 States affected by left wing extremists. The meeting was presided by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.