Bumper paddy leaves Telangana gasping for warehouses

HYDERABAD: A bumper paddy production of 55 lakh metric tonnes (MTs) in this kharif has brought a fresh set of problems for the government. The state, which has 330 warehouses with a capacity to store 17 lakh metric tonnes, needs more storage houses for paddy.
The TRS government, which took up construction of 345 warehouses, completed work on 330 warehouses.Work on the remaining warehouses, estimated to have 47,500 metric tonnes capacity, is expected to be over soon. Officials said the government spent Rs 1,024 crore on these warehouses.

Agriculture principal secretary C Parthasarathy told TOI that district collectors have been directed to identify suitable land for setting up the warehouses.
He recalled that there were only 176 warehouses when Telangana was formed with a storage capacity of 4.17 lakh metric tonnes.
Officials said each warehouse would require at least five acres of land. Road and rail connectivity is a given.
The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) was ready to pay the government the land value, while the storage space would be shared 50:50 by both Central Warehousing Corporation and the state.
But, officials are hopeful of tiding over the crisis. “The entire 55 lakh metric tonnes of paddy won’t arrive in a day or a week. It comes in batches and proper planning will ensure that farmers will not face any problem to store the paddy. Also, there are private-owned warehouses to store paddy,” said an official.
Paddy production was 42 lakh metric tonnes in the last kharif.