Eight fire tenders are carrying out the fire fighting operations in in a godown in Kurla area of Mumbai.

New Delhi [India], April 23 (ANI): With a view to safeguarding the interests of Odisha farmers, Biju Janta Dal (BJD) Member of Parliament Amar Patnaik on Saturday wrote to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal and urged him to intervene in the issue of procurement of parboiled rice.

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], January 2 (ANI): In a bid to boost the state's economy and catapult employment generation, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday approved a special package of incentives for new Mega and Ultra Mega Projects to attract huge investment in these projects across the state.

Guwahati Nov 19 PTI A modern rail-linked grain silo was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey at Changsari in Assams Kamrup Rural district on Friday Silos are structures used for storing bulk materials like grains and other products Speaking on the occasion the minister said it is a Central government initiative to build such a silo in Assam for the storage of 50000 MT food grains a PIB release said The Food Corporation of India FCI silo facility at Changsari has been developed on an area of 591 acres and it consists of four main storage silo bins of 12500 MT capacity each an official said A conventional FCI godown had been in operation at Changsari with a total site area of 668 acres and a capacity of 62640 MT The conventional depot is connected with a railway siding within the premises Considering the storage gap at the location and availability of the existing site and Railway connectivity the development of a modern storage silo was proposed at Changsari The silo project of 50000 MT capacity was tendered on Design Build Finance Operate and Transfer DBFOT basis on FCI land which was formally opened by the Union minister on Friday The project is already operational and the total stock of wheat in the silo as of date is 11476 MT the FCI official said Choubey further said the Centre is working closely with the state government to give every possible assistance regarding food supply and distribution the PIB release said He added that 10 lakh metric tonne LMT food grains paddy will be procured in Assam in this KMS Kharif Marketing Season 2021-22 Assam Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Minister Ranjeet Kumar Das in his speech said Rs 1940 per quintal will be paid to each farmer for the purchase of food grains in Assam Guwahati Lok Sabha MP Queen Oja also present on the occasion said such a food storage facility in her constituency will help in food preservation and also create more job opportunities in the area PTI SSG MM MM

Hyderabad Nov 17 PTI Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Centre to direct the FCI to confirm the target of rice procurement from the state during ensuing Rabi season among others His letter comes in the backdrop of the continuing war of words between the ruling TRS and BJP over paddy procurement in the state Rao alleged that the Food Corporation of India FCI was following certain policies which created confusion in the minds of farmers as well as state governments like the procurement target not being fixed for the entire year in one go and procurement not keeping pace though production was increasing year by year Due to these policiesit was becoming difficult for states to plan an appropriate cropping pattern and explain the same to farmers he said For instance though rice production in Telangana during Kharif 2020-21 was 5575 lakh metric tons LMT the procurement was only 3266 LMT which is 59 per cent of the production This was less than the 78 per cent procured in Kharif 2019-20 Such wide variations in procurement levels does not allow the state to implement a rational cropping pattern Rao said To clear these confusions and fix the appropriate target for procurement he had met Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal in September this year and requested that the annual target for procurement be fixed immediately he said Though it has been 50 days since he met the minister no policy decision had been taken and communicated to him he said In this context he requested the Centre to direct FCI to complete procurement of the balance 500 LMTs rice produced in Rabi 2020-21 and to enhance the target beyond 40 LMTs for rice procurement during the ongoing Kharif 2021-22 to 90 per cent of production as done in Punjab he said Rao also urged that the target of rice procurement from the state during the ensuing Rabi season be confirmed Raos letter to the PM came against the backdrop of a war of words between ruling TRS and BJP over paddy procurement and a clash between the activists of the two parties during state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumars visit to procurement centres this week After a meeting of the TRS Legislature Party on Tuesday Rao said all state ministers TRS MPs MLAs MLCs and other public representatives would stage a dharna here on Thursday demanding that the NDA government make clear the paddy procurement target in the state This was required as state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar has asked farmers to take up paddy cultivation during the coming yasangi summer season crop while the Centre appeared to suggest otherwise he had said Farmers should not suffer loss by taking up paddy cultivation in the summer season due to any confusion on the issue Rao said If there is no response from the Centre after the dharna people would understand as to what is their attitude he had claimed Meanwhile Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged on Wednesday that the state government did not start procurement of the rainy season crop which made farmers wait at procurement centres since Dasara festival Farmers would not have died of heart attack at procurement centres or committed suicides had the government started procurement properly he said On Raos comments that BJP faced protests from farmers during his visits to paddy procurement centres Kumar asked why would farmers carry sticks and eggs which hit the BJP workers On Raos request that the annual target be fixed for procurement he said a meeting on the summer crop will be held in February PTI SJR APR APR