In Telangana, the State Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister, N Uttam Kumar Reddy has asked all rice millers to complete the milling of 42 lakh metric tonnes of CMR paddy and submit the same to the Food Corporation of India by 31st of this month. The Minister held a video conference with all district collectors and FCI officials from Hyderabad last evening. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister warned that strict action will be taken against anyone dealing with the illegal trade of ration rice. He said paddy procurement must be done smoothly and completed in the next few days. The Minister expressed concern over the inordinate delay in supply of CMR paddy to the FCI and reminded the district collectors that the Centre complained about the delay in paddy deliveries from Telangana. He said supplying about 7.83 lakh metric tonnes of rice is due to FCI during Kharif season and another 35 lakh metric tonnes are supposed to be supplied during that Rabi season from the state.

The Minister also pointed out that the Civil Supplies Corporation took huge loans to procure paddy from the farmers and to repay the loans by supplying rice to FCI.