Hyderabad, August 11: Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday requested the Central government to consider whether there is any possibility to permit export of rice by adopting any other procedure like Open General License (OGL) or any method adopted in earlier period without any violation of the stay order in force as the present procedure has been stayed by the High Court of Delhi.
In a letter to Union Minister for Commerce Anand Sharma, the Chief Minister said that unless the rice on hand is disposed of by the rice millers through exports and create godown space, it would have an adverse effect on the purchases of paddy from the farmers at remunerative prices.
Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said in his letter, that “I profusely thank you for permitting export of 10 lakh MTs of non-Basmathi rice from the Country to other Countries. I understand that the High Court of Delhi passed interim orders in Writ Petition No 5237/2011 staying the operation and implementation of the allocation made by the Director General of Foreign Trade.”
He continued, “ I am of the view that it may take some time for vacation of the stay orders and the disposal of the case. I would like to inform you that as you are kindly aware, the production of paddy in Andhra Pradesh was unprecedented. Due to storage space constraint in the FCI, the levy deliveries had slowed down resulting in the brisk disposal of paddy by the farmers.”
Besides, the Chief Minister pointed out that due to movement of fertilisers, the movement of rice by the FCI from Andhra Pradesh to other States had also reduced.
Both these constraints had a telling impact on the disposal of paddy by the farmers in the State. At this juncture, the permission for export of rice from the Country had provided a sigh of relief. However, this relief could not be translated into reality due to the stay of the operation of the orders of the Director General of Foreign Trade by the High Court of Delhi.
He further informed that paddy sowings for 2011-12 are in full swing and the paddy production is also expected to arrive in the market from the 1st October, 2011.
Unless the rice on hand is disposed of by the rice millers through exports and create godown space, it would have an adverse effect on the purchase of paddy from the farmers at remunerative prices, he said and requested Mr Sharma to consider whether there is any possibility to permit export of rice by adopting any other procedure like Open General License (OGL) or any method adopted in earlier period without any violation of the stay order in force as the present procedure has been stayed by the High Court of Delhi”.
——Agencies