Uttam Instructs Officials to Ramp-Up Paddy Procurement
All drenched paddy should be immediately shifted to assigned parboiled rice mills using already-issued district allocations to salvage the crop
Hyderabad: Civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday directed officials to ramp-up paddy procurement, as unseasonal rains would start lashing Telangana. He also sought urgent safeguards to protect farmers from untimely rains and losses.
Putting the official machinery that is involved in minimum support price (MSP) operations on high alert, Uttam Kumar Reddy emphasised the need for monitoring of weather conditions and ensuring that farmers were promptly informed about rainfall forecasts. He was speaking at a reviewed of paddy procurement an directed officials to scale up the operations.
The government has procured around 14. 8 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), with all 8,575 paddy procurement centres (PPCs) fully operational. This includes over 8 LMT of coarse varieties. An amount of `2001.96 crore has been remitted to the accounts of farmers.
Reports from the districts indicated that unseasonal rain accompanied by strong winds had drenched significant quantities of paddy in Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Khammam, among others. The Nalgonda collector reported 299 MT of paddy getting soaked across four centres following a sudden 20-minute storm that blew off tarpaulins despite prior alerts.
Similar incidents were reported in Mahbubabad, Suryapet, Khammam, and Kothagudem. The minister directed collectors to treat protection of farmers’ produce from unseasonal downpours as a top priority. He insisted on advance positioning of tarpaulins at every PPC based on daily morning weather alerts.
All drenched paddy should be immediately shifted to assigned parboiled rice mills using already-issued district allocations to salvage the crop. He directed officials to ensure that tarpaulins are used properly and stocks are covered before any visible damage occurs.
