Hyderabad: Chief Minister Revanth Reddy urged the Centre to approve additional paddy procurement of 18 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) for the 2025-26 vanakalam season.
He met Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Prahlad Joshi at his residence on Thursday. State Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy accompanied him.
The Centre had earlier permitted 53.73 LMT for the season. However, higher output led the State to procure an extra 18 LMT.
The Chief Minister requested the Food Corporation of India to lift the surplus. He also sought approval for a 10 per cent broken rice in this paddy procurement.
State presses Centre on paddy procurement and dues
The delegation further sought permission to mill 10 LMT of boiled rice for the 2024-25 Yasangi season. They requested a five per cent broken rice tolerance for that quantity.
In addition, the Chief Minister asked the Centre to extend the February 28 deadline for custom milling rice by two months. He said the extension would ease logistical pressure.
Revanth Reddy also sought the immediate release of Rs 1,468.94 crore pending for rice supplied during the 2014-15 vanakalam season. He informed the Union Minister that the State had borne the burden of additional levy procurement.
The government had taken loans to support paddy procurement operations. Interest on those loans has now crossed Rs 2,000 crore.
Furthermore, he requested the release of Rs 343.27 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. The amount relates to rice supplied between May 2021 and March 2022, and in April 2022.
MPs Dr Mallu Ravi and Suresh Shetkar attended the meeting. State Civil Supplies Additional Director Rohit Singh and Central Schemes Coordinator Dr Gaurav Uppal were also present.