Stressing the urgent need to set up new cotton purchase centres at Wanaparthy, Alampur, Atchampet and Narayanpet in Mahbubnagar district, Telangana Planning Board Vice-Chairman S. Niranjan Reddy has requested Minister for Irrigation, Marketing T Harish Rao to initiate steps to pursue with Cotton Corporation of India in this regard.
In a letter to Harish Rao on Tuesday, Niranjan Reddy stated Mahbubnagar district is one of the major contributors in cotton growing having 2,22,116 hectare and having only five CCI’s cotton purchasing Centers. In both geographically and in terms of population, Mahbubnagar is largest and biggest in the State of Telangana, he added.
Niranjan Reddy stated compared to other cotton growing districts of Telangana, Mahbubnagar needs not less than 10 purchasing centres of CCI as there was visible disparity in setting up CCI centres in Mahabubnagar district. While Warangal with 2,47,000 hectare of cotton growing area has 12 centres, Khammam with 1,57,000 hectare has eight centres and Karimnagar has 11 centres for 2,31,000 hectare. He also stated of late several new ginning and processing mills have been set up in Mahbubnagar district warranting new CCIs. New and sophisticated ginning and processing mills are functioning on National Highway-44 in Wanaparthy Assembly constituency, he added. (NSS)