HYDERABAD: Terming the remarks made by Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal in Parliament on Friday as ‘lies’ intended to mislead the people, State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Sunday said that it was the Food Corporation of India (FCI) that was delaying acceptance of custom milled parboiled rice from the rice millers, citing shortage of space in its godowns and that the State government was not at fault.
When the TRS MPs had sought the stand of the Centre regarding procurement of paddy from Telangana for Rabi 2021-22, Goyal had ridiculed the State government for ‘mixing the past and the future,’ by not delivering the milled rice for Rabi 2020-21 season and raising the issue of Rabi 2021-22 procurement instead.
Addressing the media in Hyderabad on Sunday, Reddy showed the letters written by the Civil Supplies Commissioner and Medak Collector to the General Manager of FCI (Telangana) in October, where the State government has been flagging the issue of delay in acceptance of rice by FCI. The delay is causing difficulties for the rice millers in managing the supply chain, even after milling the rice on time.
He said that the State government was only a facilitator in procurement and that it was the responsibility of the Centre to procure, manage godowns and if needed, export rice. Reddy blamed the Congress and BJP, whose state presidents, despite being MPs, were not representing the interests of Telangana farmers at the Centre.