Hyderabad: Irrigation and civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly rejected the claims and allegations made by BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) regarding the ongoing paddy procurement operations in Telangana. He stated that the BRS is spreading a false and politically motivated campaign against the state government.
In an official statement, the minister described KTR’s remarks as “a bundle of lies, half-truths and desperate political propaganda.” He asserted that the Congress government is executing the largest-ever paddy procurement exercise in the history of Telangana, fully committed to safeguarding farmers’ interests.
Record Procurement Figures
The minister highlighted that the government has already procured 46.2 lakh metric tonnes (LMTs) of paddy out of the 54.2 LMTs that arrived at Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs), achieving nearly 85% procurement completion. This involved more than 6.3 lakh farmer transactions. He noted that the present procurement operations are being conducted on a scale significantly larger than previous Rabi seasons under the BRS regime.
Payments released to farmers have already reached ₹7,841 crore, surpassing multiple previous Rabi seasons both in procurement quantity and payments made. This completely disproves allegations of any “collapse” in procurement operations, he added.
Gunny Bag Shortage Denied
Uttam also denied allegations regarding a shortage of gunny bags, calling them completely baseless. “The government has already positioned 19.7 crore gunny bags in the field, which is sufficient for procurement of the entire paddy that has arrived at paddy procurement centres,” he said. While isolated operational challenges may arise in a procurement exercise of this unprecedented scale, portraying the entire system as ‘collapsed’ is inaccurate and politically motivated, he added.
The minister emphasized that the state government continues to work proactively through constant field-level supervision, daily reviews, large-scale transportation deployment, adequate logistical arrangements, and uninterrupted financial support to ensure smooth procurement operations and timely payments to farmers across Telangana.
About the Author
Koride Mahesh has been working with the Times of India, Hyderabad for over two decades. He is currently senior assistant editor of TOI, Hyderabad. He holds a PhD (doctorate) in Journalism and has a total of 32 years of experience in print journalism. He extensively writes on urban infrastructure, projects, civic issues, real estate market, land issues, energy, irrigation and state government administration in Telangana. He also covers state political developments, especially BRS.
