Hyderabad:
To strengthen the public distribution system in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government will take up decentralised procurement of rice in seven districts on a pilot basis.
This was decided at a high-level meeting attended by Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution KV Thomas and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Monday evening.
Under the new initiative, around 11 lakh metric tonnes of rice will be procured by the Civil Supplies Corporation in Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Guntur, Prakasam, Warangal, Nellore and Chittoor districts, the Chief Minister's Office said in a release.
Appreciating Andhra Pradesh's performance in paddy procurement, the Union Minister suggested utilisation of funds under the Rasthriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and RIDF for construction of intermediary godowns which would help ease the storage constraints with FCI.
He assured full cooperation of the Centre in strengthening the decentralised procurement system.
The Chief Minister asked the officials to prepare a detailed estimate on the additional godown space required in the seven pilot districts and submit a report to the Centre.
He said 25 lakh metric tonnes of additional godown capacity was being created by March 2013 in the state.
Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu, Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew and other senior officials attended the meeting.