HYDERABAD

Minister for Civil Supplies and Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy instructed authorities of the Civil Supplies department to ramp up paddy procurement in the wake of forecast of unseasonal rains lashing the State over the next couple of weeks.

In a meeting held here on Monday to review the paddy procurement exercise, the Minister asked the authorities to act swiftly to scale up paddy procurement operations while ensuring urgent safeguards to protect farmers from untimely rains and losses. The forecast of untimely rains for the rest of the week and heavy summer showers that battered multiple districts on Sunday night had played havoc on paddy stocks at harvesting platforms and market yards.