Report by OD bureau; Hyderabad: In a bid to strengthen the public distribution system network, the state government has taken up decentralized procurement of rice in seven districts on a pilot basis. This was decided at a high level meeting which was presided by the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Professor K.V. Thomas and Chief Minister Mr. N Kiran Kumar Reddy at the secretariat on Monday.

Around 11 lakh metric tonnes of rice will be procured by the Civil Supplies Corporation in the seven districts of Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Guntur, Prakasam, Warangal, Nellore and Chittoor. The Union Minister Prof K V Thomas appreciated the Andhra Pradesh Government's performance in paddy procurement. He suggested utilization of funds under the Rasthriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and RIDF funds for construction of intermediary godowns which would help ease the godown constraints with FCI.

He assured full cooperation of the centre to the state in strengthening the decentralized procurement system. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister asked the officials to prepare a detailed estimate on the additional godown space required in the seven pilot districts and submit the report to the centre. He said that 25 lakh matric tonne additional godown capacity is being created by March 2013 and over the last one month 15 thousand matric tonne godown space was created.

The IKP women in the state have created a record in paddy procurement and earned a commission of Rs 48 Crores. The Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu, Chief Secretary Minne Mathew and other senior officials attended the meeting.