FCI lauds Telangana’s paddy procurement for Central pool

Telangana contributed 52.23 lakh tonnes of the 83.01 lakh tonnes procured at the national level

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has once again commended the State government over paddy procurement for Central pool this season and reasserted that Telangana continued to be at the top in the matter, contributing 52.23 lakh tonnes out of 83.01 lakh tonnes procured at the national level as of last Friday.

The procurement was already more than half the targeted 91.07 lakh tonnes in the State. Another 23.04 lakh tonnes was procured in Andhra Pradesh, a release of the chairman and managing director of FCI D.V. Prasad said.

It was only a fortnight ago that Mr. Prasad had praised the State’s role in procurement which was acknowledged in a tweet by Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Distribution Ramvilas Paswan. Mr. Prasad said procurement of food grains by government agencies this year had created a record of sorts overcoming all challenges posed by COVID 19. Telangana emerged as a major contributor to nationwide procurement of paddy cultivated in the second crop of 2019-20.

The FCI was closely monitoring the procurement, movement and storage operations of foodgrains in coordination with the State government. In view of nationwide lockdown, the Centre had taken measures to ensure food security throughout the country so that nobody, especially, the poor suffered on account of non-availability of foodgrains.

The Telangana unit of FCI had ensured that 2.87 lakh tonnes of free rice allotted to the State for distribution to 1.91 crore people under Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in addition to regular allotment under National Food Security Act (NFSA) was lifted completely. Also, it was seen to it that 19,162 tonnes of free rice allotted to State under Atma Nirbhar Bharat for distribution to migrant labour was lifted. The FCI was issuing another 1.32 lakh tonnes of subsidised rice to Telangana to benefit 88 lakh people not covered by NFSA.

About 13 lakh tonnes of rice by 495 trains, highest till date in a short span of time, was moved to different States from Telangana for public distribution system. The FCI accepted 5.08 lakh tonnes of rice from millers on behalf of the State government to aid in its minimum support price operations.