Paswan assures AP govt of clearing next month part of rice subsidy dues of Rs 4,300 cr

New Delhi, Mar 3 () The Centre will clear next month some part of the pending subsidy dues of over Rs 4,300 crore to the Andhra Pradesh government for undertaking rice procurement at a minimum support price (MSP), Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Tuesday.

Paswan gave the assurance in a meeting with Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath on this issue here.

"It is a genuine request from the Andhra Pradesh government. The Centre, too, does not have funds and we may get some allocation at the end of March. From that, we will release (the fund) as much as possible to Andhra Pradesh," Paswan told after the meeting.

Some subsidy dues are pending in most states, where procurement has been decentralised. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra are some of the states where foodgrain subsidy dues are pending, he added.

The dues will be released to the Andhra Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd (APSCSCL) which has undertaken the procurement operation in the state.

After the meeting, the AP finance minister said total Rs 4,308 crore was the pending rice subsidy from the Centre. Of which, Rs 1,598 crore dues were between financial years 2013-14 and 2016-17.

"The Government of India normally releases 90 per cent of claimed amount as advance subsidy in each quarter. However, there has been a delay in the release of subsidy for this year, creating hurdles in clearing the outstanding payments to farmers on time," he said.

However, the state government has been clearing the payments for farmers from its own resources in order to avoid unrest among farmers and also honour the commitment of MSP given by the central government, he added.

The state's finance minister said the Andhra Pradesh government has cleared payments of Rs 6,000 crore so far to the farmers and the outstanding dues stand at about Rs 3,000 crore, which is leading to unrest among the farming community.

He demanded the Union food minister to release the funds at the earliest as the state government is not in a position to mobilise funds for clearing these payment dues in the limited fiscal space available.

"The previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government had taken a huge loan of Rs 13,500 crore for clearing MSP payments. Much of the loan was taken in 2019 just before elections for implementing welfare schemes. Therefore, we do not have the capacity to take further loan," Rajendranath told after the meeting.

The state government has procured 41.73 lakh tonne of paddy so far in the 2019-20 kharif season, while the estimate is to buy 88 lakh tonne in the same period. LUX HRS