HYDERABAD: Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy has requested Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to procure at least 10,507 tonnes of green gram from the State this year. In a letter to the Union Minister on Sunday, Niranjan Reddy said that the Markfed procured 418 tonnes of green gram out of the targeted quantity of 10,378 tonnes. Due to favourable crop production, the leftover quantity may get exhausted within a week.
The Centre should procure at least 50 per cent, i.e., 10,507 tonnes, of the estimated production of of 20,885 tonnes of green gram, the Agriculture Minister said.
Meanwhile, Niranjan Reddy directed the officials on Sunday to open paddy purchasing centres and provide required gunny bags to farmers. He conducted a review meeting with officials on paddy procurement in the lobbies of the Assembly. The Minister directed the civil supplies officials to convene a meeting with joint collectors in a week to procure paddy without troubling the farmers. He directed the officials to make an agreement with the transporters so that the paddy procured would reach the godowns immediately.
Niranjan Reddy suggested the officials set up a state-level monitoring cell with officials from civil supplies, agriculture, SERP, cooperation and marketing. Similar monitoring cells should be set up at district level too, the Minister said. Stern action would be taken against the officials if the involvement of middlemen were found in paddy purchases, he said.