HYDERABAD: Civil Supplies Commissioner DS Chauhan on Wednesday said the state government was exporting rice to the Philippines under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement. He asserted that the export of rice is completely legal.
Responding to recent reports in the AP media, Chauhan noted that the paddy production in Telangana has increased tremendously but milling and storage capacity has not increased proportionately.
“Hence there is every need to explore long-term options for regular off-loading of paddy. Under the above circumstances, the state government, with the permission of the Government of India, decided to export rice to the Philippines, which would fetch immediate revenue and also reduce the loan on the corporation, in addition to opening doors for the export market,” he said.
Chauhan said that there is no truth in Telangana rice being seized from a cargo ship at Kakinada port on January 5. He clarified that the rice export was flagged off a ship named MV Truong An on March 30. He also noted that Telangana rice millers started delivery of rice to Kakinada (Sathwik Godowns) only from February 9 this year.
“The quality of rice exported to the Philippines is 5% broken silky sortex rice whereas PDS rice is 2.5% broken,” he stated, while quashing the reports of seizure of PDS rice.
“Hence, the allegations made against Telangana government’s prestigious rice export programme to the Philippines are false and baseless,” he added.