HYDERABAD: The Central government agreed to procure last year’s Rabi rice up to February 28. Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar said on Saturday that with the initiative taken by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Central government agreed to procure last year’s Rabi rice from millers up to end of February.
In a statement here, Kamalakar said of the 43 lakh tonnes of last year’s Rabi rice to be handed over to the Centre, so far, 37 lakh tonnes had been handed over. However, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had refused to extend the period for handing over the remaining quantity of rice. Thus, the Chief Minister took up the matter with the Central government. Kamalakar wanted the millers to hand over the remaining six lakh tonnes of rice to the FCI before February.
The Minister said the procurement of this year’s Kharif crop was in the last stage. Of the total 6,505 purchasing centres, 6,139 centres were closed now, he said. He said the State government purchased 48.42 lakh tonnes of paddy worth `9,136 crore from 10.92 lakh ryots.