A delegation of Telangana Ministers comprising S. Niranjan Reddy (Agriculture), G. Kamalakar (Civil Supplies) and P. Ajay Kumar (Transport) left for New Delhi on Tuesday evening along with a team of officials to meet Union Food Minister on the issue of Rabi paddy procurement in the State.
Another Minister V. Prashant Reddy had already left on Monday evening.
Apart from TRS MPs, they are planning to meet Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal and also some officials of the Ministry to press for procurement of paddy produced during the ongoing Rabi season in the State. Meeting a few other Union Ministers on the issue is also in their agenda.
Speaking after a meeting with the officials, Mr. Niranjan Reddy said that the objective of their visit was to request the Centre to procure paddy produced in Rabi.
Reacting to the reported remarks of the Union Minister on custom-milled rice in Telangana, he said instead of lifting the stocks of CMR from rice mills by arranging required number of railway rakes, the Centre/FCI was blaming the State Government and forgetting the fact that there was no reason for the State to hold back the CMR.
At Shamshabad airport, the Minister criticised State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar for speaking on paddy procurement without any authority. “It was either the Union Minister or officials concerned who should speak on the issue. In case, he was speaking on behalf of the Centre, he must have basic data,” he said.
He reiterated the State Government’s demand that the Centre should procure entire paddy produced in Telangana as it was doing in case of Punjab, Haryana and a few other States.
Mr. Kamalakar alleged that the Centre was creating problems for Telangana in every aspect, particularly procuring foodgrains. He demanded that the Centre should procure all foodgrains produced in the country. He sought to know why the Centre was seeking processing of paddy procured when it was not doing so in case of wheat, cotton or other crops.
The delegation of Ministers left for New Delhi as decided at a meeting of the TRS Legislature Party and extended executive meet chaired by party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday. It was also decided at the meeting that they would take to the path of agitation in case the Centre refused to procure Rabi paddy produced in Telangana in the name of parboiled rice.
