Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the paddy procured this year compared to the previous year was much higher and released the comparative figures through a powerpoint presentation.
Giving a comparative statement on paddy procurement this year (as of April 14) he said that as against 7,031 paddy procurement centres (PPCs) proposed last year, this year their number has increased to 7,149 centres. While only 335 PPCs were opened by April 14 last year, this year, as of March 25, a total of 6,919 centres have been opened. “Whereas only 233 Metric Tonnes (MTs) of paddy were procured last year, as of April 14, a total of 269,699 MTs (2.70 LMTs) have been procured so far,” he said at a press conference.
He dismissed the claims of BRS leaders Harish Rao and Jeevan Reddy that global tenders called by the Civil Supplies Corporation to dispose of enormous paddy stocks as a scam. “They suffer from knowledge on procurement or auction.”
