HYDERABAD: A delegation of Ministers left for Delhi on Tuesday to meet Union Ministers and officials to press the demand that the Food Corporation of India procures the entire quantity of paddy produced in the State.
Apart from Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar and Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar are part of the delegation.
Speaking to reporters at the Shamshabad airport, Niranjan Reddy said that they would impress upon the Centre to procure the entire paddy from Telangana, as was done in Punjab. The Minister alleged that the Centre was not even providing sufficient railway wagons to the State to transport the rice.
Niranjan Reddy also found fault with BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s statement. “The Union government should speak on paddy procurement. The BJP State president has nothing to do with policy matters,” he said.
Kamalakar said that the attitude of the Centre was detrimental to the interests of Tela-ngana farmers. He said they also plan to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He demanded a “one nation-one procurement policy”. While procuring the entire wheat from Punjab, why was the Centre not procuring paddy from Telangana, he asked. “The Centre should procure all the farm produce, including boiled rice from Telangana,” he said.