Hyderabad: The ongoing crisis in Telangana over paddy procurement from farmers is likely to worsen as the state government fails to secure assurances from the federal government to lift the paddy ban.

The Centre has rejected down the state's request to increase the target, despite rising criticism of the state government's sluggish paddy procurement from farmers during the current Kharif season.

Union minister for food and public distribution Piyush Goel made it plain during a meeting with a team of state ministers led by irrigation minister S. Niranjan Reddy in Delhi last night that the Centre will not purchase parboiled rice from the state during the upcoming Rabi season. Following the discussion, Reddy informed reporters that the Centre's position is sad. He stated that they had returned from the national capital disheartened.

According to the minister, the Centre has provided no clarity on the amount of paddy that will be procured during the current Kharif season. He claimed the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had promised the state that 45 lakh tonnes of paddy would be procured, but that the Centre was now avoiding the problem.

The state's assertion that paddy was cultivated on 62 lakh acres was not acknowledged, according to Niranjan Reddy, and the Centre used delaying tactics, but it has now accepted it following the satellite survey.

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