Fine Rice To Replace Coarse Grain, Says Uttam Kumar

HYDERABAD: Irrigation and civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy declared that the Congress government is tackling food security by introducing sanna biyyam in place of coarse rice.

Addressing a training camp of DCC presidents from Telangana and Andhra at Vikarabad, he criticised inefficiencies in the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Telangana, he said, had been spending nearly ₹12,000 crore annually to distribute 6 kg of coarse rice (doddu biyyam) per beneficiary, but surveys revealed that “nearly 90 per cent of this coarse grain is diverted to animal feed, beer companies, or recycled by mills, as people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh overwhelmingly prefer fine rice.”

“We have identified this as a massive wastage of public money. The Congress government formulated a comprehensive alternative replacing coarse‑grain distribution, ensuring that genuine food security reaches the intended beneficiaries. This reform builds directly on the state’s successful shift towards fine paddy production and procurement,” he underlined.

On irrigation, Reddy said the Srisailam left bank canal project is progressing rapidly to bring water to 3 lakh acres. The Palamuru‑Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme and its associated projects — Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Koilsagar and Bhima — will be completed before the next Assembly elections. The Devadula project will be finished by December 2027, irrigating over 6.8 lakh acres and supplying drinking water to Warangal. The Sitarama and Seetamma Sagar projects will draw Godavari waters to irrigate about 6 lakh acres in the erstwhile Khammam district.

He credited Sonia Gandhi as “singularly responsible for giving statehood to Telangana” and recalled that KCR had promised to merge TRS with Congress, but “backed out after the creation of a separate Telangana to pursue his personal agenda that included a family rule.”