HYDERABAD: Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday said that the Congress guarantee of providing domestic LPG cylinders for Rs 500 would be implemented within 100 days.
Chairing a review meeting on the Civil Supplies department, the minister also said that another of the Congress promises, of providing a Rs 500 bonus per quintal of paddy during procurement, would also be implemented within 100 days.
Uttam opined that the quantity of rice distributed to BPL families should be increased.
“Of the six kgs, the BRS government supplied only one kg of rice free of cost to the people. The remaining five kg were supplied by the Union government,” he recalled. “PDS rice was being diverted for other purposes in the BRS government,” the minister alleged, adding that the rice being distributed to around 2.80 crore poor should be fit for consumption.
Uttam directed Civil Supplies officials to take all steps for procuring paddy and payment of money immediately after. He said that the BRS government did not provide financial assistance to Civil Supplies Corporation, forcing it to raise loans worth Rs 56,000 crore for the procurement of paddy.
Stating that at present, 90 lakh tonnes of paddy worth Rs 18,000 crore was lying with rice millers, Uttam said: “We will discuss in the Cabinet how to dispose of this paddy.” He said that another 1.17 lakh tonnes of paddy was lying with the Civil Supplies Corporation. The Corporation was facing losses of Rs 11,000 crore, the minister said, and blamed the BRS government for the lacunae in administration.
Uttam pointed out that only 89 per cent BPL families were availing the PDS rice and there was a demand for new ration cards.This would be brought to the notice of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and a decision taken soon, he said.