Roushan Ali

Hyderabad: Irrigation and civil supplies minister Uttam Kumar Reddy has urged Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Prahlad Joshi to enhance paddy procurement for the kharif season 2025–26 from 54 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) to 80 LMT in order to protect Telangana farmers from distress sales.

‘Allot extra rakes’

In a letter to the Union minister, Uttam also requested the release of a pending subsidy of 1,468 crore, enhancement of storage capacity in the state, and the allotment of additional rakes for the movement of boiled rice from Food Corporation of India (FCI) depots in Telangana.

“I wish to once again bring to your kind attention several pressing operational and financial issues concerning the Telangana state civil supplies department that require urgent resolution to ensure uninterrupted procurement activities during the ongoing kharif marketing season (KMS) 2025–26. During the 2024–25 Rabi season, the Govt of India (GOI) allocated 35 LMT of rice. FCI has so far received 17.83 LMT of parboiled rice and 1.13 LMT of raw rice under Custom Milled Rice (CMR), leaving a balance of 1.56 LMT of parboiled rice and 14.01 LMT of raw rice yet to be delivered,” he stated.

“As you are aware, Rabi paddy is more suitable for conversion into parboiled rice. It is therefore requested that an additional 10 LMT of boiled rice target be allocated under the 2024–25 Rabi crop to facilitate the timely completion of CMR deliveries.”

“Likewise, as the CMR delivery period for Kharif expired on November 12, 2025, permission is sought for an extension of time for CMR deliveries up to January 31, 2026,” Uttam urged.

He pointed out that there was a shortfall of 13.5 LMT in rake movement during the current year compared to the previous year, resulting in the accumulation of stocks, particularly parboiled rice, in FCI godowns in Telangana.

Release subsidies: Min

This has adversely affected CMR deliveries. Minister Uttam requested that additional rakes be allotted immediately to enable the expeditious movement of parboiled rice from FCI godowns and ensure the completion of CMR deliveries. Stating that the GOI has fixed the kharif 2025–26 procurement target at 54 LMT of paddy (equal to 36 LMT of rice), which he described as inadequate, Uttam said paddy production is estimated at 148 LMT, with expected procurement of 80 LMT (54 LMT of rice). As of now, the state govt has already procured 52 LMT of paddy, and the GOI target is expected to be reached within a couple of days.

He also highlighted that a subsidy claim of 1,468 crore towards excess mill levy rice procured during kharif 2014–15 remains pending, and to ensure it is released.

Another subsidy of 343.27 crore for 89,988 metric tonnes of rice distributed by the state govt under PMGKAY in April 2022, instead of March 2022, has also not been released, he said.

Published Date: December 15, 2025