Minister Has Lunch With Fine Rice Beneficiary

As part of the State government's ambitious fine rice distribution program, Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao, along with Police Commissioner Sunil Dutt and district in-charge Collector Dr P Sreeja, had lunch today at the home of a beneficiary named Gudibandla Raja Rao in Budidampadu village, Raghunathapalem mandal, Khammam district.

The minister instructed officials to ensure that the distribution of fine rice strictly benefited only those who qualified, and encouraged the underprivileged to make good use of the initiative introduced by the Congress government.

Rao asserted that Telangana was the only state in India providing fine rice to the poor. He said that during the previous BRS government coarse rice was often left unused or sold on the black market, and that the beneficiaries, unable to consume the poor-quality rice, were driven to sell it for Rs 10 per kg and use their earnings from labour to buy fine rice instead. He said that now all white ration cardholders were enjoying the fine rice provided by the Congress government.

"The government is acquiring fine-quality paddy from farmers at a support price of Rs 500 per quintal. With the bonus offered by the government, the cultivation of this premium variety of paddy in Telangana has increased from 20% to 80%," he added.