HYDERABAD: Advising the State government to ensure up-gradation of equipment in rice mills so that they could convert Rabi paddy into raw rice, Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, said that as far as procurement of raw rice was concerned there was no problem for the Centre and that it would lift the entire 40 lakh tonnes for which it has given commitment in phases.
Expressing displeasure over the State government not heeding the Centre’s direction on up-gradation of equipment, the Union Minister said that if it is done, the parboiled rice issue would be solved for good.
The paddy grown in Rabi season in Telangana is fit for conversion into parboiled rice because of climatic factors and if the rice mills change or upgrade equipment even Rabi paddy could also be converted into regular rice. Speaking to the media in Delhi, Kishan Reddy sought to call the “bluff” of the TRS that
Centre was going back on its word on procuring all the Kharif rice.
“The original MoU with the State government was only for 40 lakh tonnes. When the crop was midway, the State said it was expecting 108 lakh tonnes and wanted us to procure all of it. First, our commitment is for only 40 lakh tonnes. Secondly, 108 lakh tonnes is a far-fetched figure. The Telangana government does not have the necessary wherewithal to assess what the yield would be. It did not do any scientific survey to arrive at the possible production in Kharif,” he said.
As regards Rabi paddy, Kishan Reddy said that the State government had given in writing to the Centre that it would not ask the FCI to procure Rabi rice (parboiled) in future and promised to set up rice bran oil mills and upgrade the equipment in rice mills to fortify the rice kernels so that they would not break into small pieces during processing.
However, Kishan evaded a question on whether he would advise farmers to opt for alternative crops because the FCI had said it would not procure Rabi rice. “It is for the State to decide what advice it should give to the farmers,” he said, as advising them against paddy may result in political backlash.
Despite the Centre establishing AIIMS in Bibinagar and writing a letter to all the States, including Telangana, on August 30, 2019, seeking their proposals with detailed project reports for establishing 75 medical colleges in districts across the country under the centrally-sponsored scheme where funds would be shared on 60:40 basis by the Centre and the State, Telangana had not responded, he said.
He also accused the State of not providing three acres of land for establishing the National Centre for Disease Control and for not paying its share of `30 crore for two hospitals with eight operation theatres each, which were constructed by the Centre in Adilabad and Warangal one-and-a-half years ago and now remain unused. Criticising the State for increasing the VAT by 4 per cent in 2015, he said the Centre had reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel in view of improvement in GST collections.