HYDERABAD: Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation (CSC) Chairman M Srinivas Reddy, on Thursday, condemned Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal’s statements blaming the State government for not sending milled rice to FCI on time.
Speaking to the media in Hyderabad, he pointed out that the delay was caused by lack of space in FCI godowns, slow wagon movement and a halt in milling that lasted for 50 days due to physical verification initiated by the Centre.
Mentioning that the State government managed to procure 40 lakh tonnes of grains worth Rs 8,000 crore from 6.43 lakh farmers through 6,703 paddy procurement centres this Kharif season, Srinivas Reddy pointed out that they purchased over 10 lakh tonnes more than last year.
Questioning as to why the Centre was reducing the deadline for accepting milled rice instead of extending it when the quantity being procured has been increasing, Srinivas pointed out that the number of rice mills in Telangana grew from 1,700 in 2014 to the current 2,700.