Minister Uttam Reddy hits out at Harish Rao, rebuts allegations on paddy procurement

Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy refutes Harish Rao's allegations, cites data showing significant increase in paddy procurement and farmer benefits.

HYDERABAD

Minister for Civil Supplies and Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday hit back at former minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao on the latter’s allegations over paddy procurement and cited official statistics asking him to stop ‘daily campaign of falsehoods’.

In a statement, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy stated that there was a sharp increase in paddy procurement during the current Rabi season. He stated that the government had procured 43.1 lakh tonnes of paddy as on May 12.

The data shared by the Minister revealed that the Telangana government had procured 43.1 lakh metric tonnes (LMTs) of paddy during the ongoing Rabi 2024–25 season, up to May 12. As on the same day last year, the Rabi procurement was 29.88 lakh tonnes and a year before (2022-23) it was only 19.62 lakh tonnes.

The statistics indicated nearly 44% jump over last year’s procurement and more than 120% when compared to 2022-23, reflecting the current administration’s proactive efforts, the Minister said.

The Minister stated that the Congress government had opened more procurement centres and streamlined operations to benefit farmers directly. Timely procurement had brought relief to paddy cultivators across Telangana as the government was ensuring Minimum Support Price (MSP) and also paying ₹500 bonus per quintal for fine varieties of paddy.

He highlighted the State’s record-breaking paddy production in 2024-25 Kharif/Vanakalam season, when 153.5 lakh tonnes of paddy was produced in 66.7 lakh acres, while the ongoing Rabi/Yasangi crop covered 60.14 lakh acres with the yield estimated to be about 129 lakh tonnes — production of over 280 lakh tonnes in a year.