Telangana: Recoveries from rice millers sees a steady rise

The state government has constituted a state-level committee to call for fresh global e-tenders for the auction of surplus stocks of rabi 2022-23 paddy lying in mills. Principal secretary (planning department) will be its chairman. The panel will also include the commissioner of civil supplies and EO principal secretary.

The committee will work out the modalities for the entire tender process, including preparation of tender documents, terms and conditions and timelines besides ensuring compliance with all conditions and transparency.

The commissioner of civil supplies will take all necessary actions. In an indication that things could be turning for the better, officials pointed out that the Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation has had a 40 per cent increase in recoveries from rice millers.

Over the last two months, officials recovered 7.60 LMT (lakh metric tonnes) at around 0.30 metric tonnes per day from rice millers. The department also procured 14.25 LMT of paddy worth Rs 3,100 crore.

Civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had pegged the debt of the department at around `56,000 crore, which had shot up from Rs 3,300 crore in 2014. The annual interest burden of the corporation exceeds `3,000 crore while its losses are to the approximate tune of Rs 11,000 crore.

The civil supplies department has received around Rs 315 crore from FCI. It will receive a further Rs 950 crore, which includes Rs 535 crore incurred by it for paddy transport. The recovery from the millers, though a good sign, has a long way to go for full recovery of around one crore ten lakh metric tonnes of paddy and 14 lakh metric tonnes of custom milled rice with them.

This article has been republished from The Deccan Chronicle