Officials under severe pressure

Paddy procurement issue to be discussed with Chief Minister

Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar has said that officials of his department were under severe pressure with huge arrivals of paddy cultivated in kharif at market yards but the Centre setting a cutoff for purchase.

In a press release, the Civil Supplies Minister, Mr Gangula Kamalakar, pointed out that the Central government had permitted procurement of 59.60 lakh tonnes of paddy which would yield 40 lakh tonnes of rice after milling.

But, the TelanganaState government had already procured 50 lakh tonnes of paddy and another 40 lakh tonnes was likely to reach market yards with the harvest of crop still going on, the Minister said. “The civil supplies officials were under pressure how to procure the remaining paddy. The same would be discussed with the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a meeting tomorrow”, the Minister said.