The Narendra Modi government at the Centre on Friday announced extension of deadline for procurement of Custom Milling Rice (CMR) from Telangana by one more month.
The decision was taken following a request made by Karimnagar MP and Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who had earlier met Union minister for food and public distribution Piyush Goyal in the Parliament and explained the problem faced by rice millers due to accumulation of the stock.
Sanjay said in a statement that the Central government provides five kg rice to each poor family under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), but the Telangana government has suspended this supply for the last three months.
This has angered the central government which stopped procurement of CMR from the state, which had adverse impact on the rice millers. Acting on a petition made by the rice millers, Sanjay met the union minister Piyush Goyal to find a solution to the problem.
Later, he even met with the officials of the concerned department for over two hours, who extended the procurement by a month. Accusing the state government of indulging in a “big fraud,” Sanjay said KCR was preventing the implementation of PMGKAY as it is a prestigious scheme of the Narendra Modi government.
He pointed out that the paddy procurement of the Rabi season in 2020-21 had already been extended six times, as stated by the union minister and department Secretary Sudhansh Pandey.
“Now, the procurement of CMR has been extended by another one month,” Sanjay said and advised the Telangana government to act above politics and distribute ration under PMGKAY for the months of May and June.
