Union Minister wanted the State government to keep sufficient number of moisture measuring meters at each centre to help the farmers to complete the transaction in short period
Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said that the union government with the help of the Telangana government will ensure that cotton procurement centres are established in the State by October 10, by converting over 325 ginning mills into procurement centers to speed up the process.
However he wanted the State government to keep sufficient number of moisture measuring meters at each centre to help the farmers to complete the transaction in short period.
Kishan Reddy who has reviewed the arrangements for procurement of cotton in the State with concerned officials, addressed media here on Saturday and said that the union government has purchased Rs 11,656 crore worth fiber crop through Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) last year and this year the CCI was advised to be ready to procure more, because of increased acreage in Telangana.
“There is an unmoved stock of over 4 lakh bales of cotton because of lockdown. Hence we must increase the number of warehouses to store the incoming cotton till the market situation improves,” he said. He said that farmers should bring their produce to the centres only after the tokens were issued them. He assured the farmers that within a week the amount will be deposited into their bank accounts under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
Explaining the reasons for rather slow import of urea into the country, Kishan Reddy said that several factors including low production and shipment problems affected the imports. ” I have already urged the concerned ministry to divert all the fertiliser unloaded in the nearby ports to Telangana to meet the demand here,” he said.
He added that the claim of the State government that 4.64 lakh tons of urea still has to reach the State was wrong and all that was due to Telangana was only 2.5 lakh tons. “They did not take the existing stock into consideration,” he explained.
Answering a question on GST compensation to Telangana, he said that the centre is also affected by low GST collections due to Covid-19. He described the options given by the Finance Minister to States were fair and States can borrow the required amount while the centre guarantees the loans and bears the burden in interest payments.
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