HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to direct the union ministry of food and public distribution to procure the entire paddy from Telangana in rabi season. He also urged Modi to convene a meeting of agriculture experts and Chief Ministers of all states to discuss and debate to formulate a suitable national procurement policy.
In his letter, the Chief Minister said, “The Centre should procure the entire quantity of paddy after meeting the state’s PDS requirements as per the MoU entered with the state government. Therefore, the Centre must procure whatever paddy is available in Telangana. While this has been the practice in the past, I am constrained to bring it to your notice that the ministry of food is disinclining to procure paddy for the last two years. ”
Pointing out that there was no uniform national-level food grains procurement policy, the Chief Minister said, “The Centre procures entire marketable surplus paddy and wheat in some states like Punjab, Haryana but not in other states like Telangana. There should not be different policies of the union government for different states.”
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