Govt restores rice procurement in Telangana, says committed towards farmers

The central government has decided to restore rice procurement operations in the central pool in the state of Telangana, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution told reporters.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had earlier paused rice receipts from the 'Central pool' to Telangana under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) alleging that the state government had deprived the beneficiaries of the central public distribution scheme and failure to comply with set standard operating procedures by defaulting millers.

Central agency FCI in several letters to the K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR)-led Telangana government had reminded them to address issues immediately and furnish an action-taken report after multiple irregularities were found in the physical verification of the mills.

The central food distribution and procurement agency found that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government in the state, despite having lifted a considerable quantity of rice from the central pool had not distributed it among the beneficiaries.

At a press briefing, Goyal criticized the Telangana government for not distributing rations to the poor in the month of April and May under Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) despite repeated reminders from the Centre. He reiterated that the Centre is committed and concerned for the poor and the farmers.

"The Government of Telangana has already lifted a considerable quantity (1.90 LMT) from DCP stocks against April and May 2022 months, but the same has not been distributed thus depriving benefits to the beneficiaries of the Central Scheme," the Minister added.

In March this year, a list of defaulter millers where shortages of rice had been noticed was communicated to the State government and was being asked to take immediate action. As many as 453,896 bags of paddy were found short in a total of 40 mills.

Again in May, shortages of another 137,872 bags were noticed in 63 mills.

During verification of the rice stocks, the Central team alleged that the paddy was not stored in a countable position due to which the physical verification of stocks could not be completed due to the lack of proper bookkeeping and standard operating procedures by the defaulting millers

Under the PMGKAY scheme which was launched during the initial days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre provides 5 kilograms of free food grains per person per month in addition to the subsidized ration provided through the public distribution system.

Separately, Telanagana CM has been agitating against the Centre for "discriminating" against the state for refusing to buy its parboiled rice - rice that is being partially boiled before husking. Some states consume parboiled rice while others do not. The Centre has argued that since the demand for such a variety of rice is low, it would be a waste to buy in excess quantities.

( With inputs from ANI )

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