Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu has said that the Union food minister K V Thomas has assured that the Centre would totally support the state government’ efforts to decentralize procurement of food grains.
Sridhar Reddy met the union minister here on Friday and explained to him about the scheme being introduced for the first time in the state. He has asked the union government to extend cooperation in this effort.
In a statement released later, Sridhar Babu said Thomos would be visiting Hyderabad on September 24 and 25 and would hold discussions on the scheme with Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and others on the scheme during his visit. He said that the state was taking up the new procedure on a suggestion made by the Centre last year. He said the union minister had responded positively to his request for cooperation in the implementation of the scheme. He said the union minister had also assured to extend technical and financial aid for implementing the new scheme.
Stating that the Civil Supplies Corporation had procured 20 lakh tones of paddy last year, he said under the DCP scheme, it was proposed to procure 30 lakh tones during the first phase. He said he had explained that the government would directly procure paddy from the farmers from October 1, when the Khariff season begins.
Stating that the state needed 40 lakh matric tones of rice for its welfare hostels, he said so far the Food Corporation of India was supplying it. He said from now on FCI would not be involved and instead, the Civil Supplies Corporation would itself procure the rice required in a phased manner for the state’s needs. He said because of the decentralization of procurement, apart from farmers getting a better support price, the expenditure on transport for the government would also be reduced. (NSS)