HYDERABAD: After a month-long stalemate, the Central government blinked first, directing the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure Custom Milled Rice (CMR) from Telangana.In response, the State government assured the Centre that it would distribute two-months pending Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) rice to the poor. PMGKAY is a Central scheme under which foodgrains are supplied to migrants and the poor.
Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal announced the decision to lift CMR from Telangana rice mills, at Delhi on Wednesday.Directing the State government to take action against defaulting millers and distribute PMGKAY foodgrains in the State, the FCI on June 7, 2022 informed the State that there would be no further “rice receipts in Central pool by FCI and by State under Decentralised Procurement Scheme (DCP) in Telangana till further orders”.
After the recent rains, paddy worth crores of rupees stored at the rice mills has been damaged. As the Centre stopped rice procurement, the State government stopped distributing the PMGKAY rice to the poor.
A team of rice millers from the State met the Union Minister and government officials on Wednesday and pleaded with the Centre to procure rice. Following this, the Union Minister directed the FCI to procure custom milled rice from Telangana.
Later speaking to reporters in Delhi, along with Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, Piyush Goyal said that despite the irregularities of the millers and inaction of the State government, the Centre decided to procure the rice keeping the interests of farmers in mind.“Telangana government is not thinking of the poor and rendered grave injustice to them by not distributing the PMGKAY rice to the poor in April and May,” he alleged.
“The Telangana government is more interested in politics, rather than serving the people of the State. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is using very foul language, while making comments on the Prime Minister and the other Union Ministers. We are trying to strengthen the Centre-State relations, but the Telangana government is not co-operating,” he said.
Asked whether the Centre had ordered any probe into the irregularities by rice millers, the Union Minister said that the rice mills were not under the Central government. He, however, said that the State government withdrew the request for CBI probe into the irregularities of rice mills. Kishan Reddy said that the State government agreed to distribute pending PMGKAY rice of April and May this month itself.
Rice millers meet union minister
The Central government’s decision to collect CMR comes after a team of rice millers from Telangana met Union Minister Piyush Goyal and the Central government officials
Union Tourism Minister Kishan Reddy said that the State government agreed to distribute pending PMGKAY rice of April and May this month itself