Hyderabad, Apr 9 (IANS): Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday decided to open 7,000 paddy procurement centers across the state on a war footing to purchase paddy from farmers cultivated during Yasangi (Rabi) season.

KCR, as the leader is popularly known, issued orders to Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and Civil Supply Commissioner Anil Kumar in this regard. As part of immediate measures, he directed the Chief Secretary to hold a video conference with the Collectors of all districts on Monday and take action to make necessary arrangements.

The CM asked the officials to open all 7,000 paddy procurement centers and commence the paddy purchasing process as it was done earlier.

Meanwhile, Union Tourism and Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy has urged UnionFood and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal to consider procuring 15 lakh metric tonnes of parboiled rice from Telangana during Rabi season.

In a letter to Goyal, he wrote that the Centre's continued support to the farmers of Telangana is clearly visible as a large number of farmers have benefited through the procurement operations of the department of food and public distribution.

Kishan Reddy noted that the number of Telangana farmers who benefited from procurement operations by the Centre increased from 5.35 lakh in 2015 during Kharif marketing season to more than 20 lakh in the previous Kharif season.