Etela Rajender sought Union minister to clear arrears

The Telangana government on Thursday urged the Union food ministry to clear Rs 1,586 crore arrears. Civil supplies minister Etela Rajender met Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan and urged him to clear the amount at the earliest. The state government has procured 7.17 lakh tonnes of rice from farmers for public distribution system on behalf of Food Corporation of India, but the latter has failed to make the payment.Mr Rajender brought to the notice of Mr Paswan that the arrears have accumulated for the past four years and the government had made several representations to the Centre to clear them, in vain. “CM KCR, I and our department officials visited Delhi and submitted representations to ministers and officials concerned several times during the past four years. But nothing materialised so far. They should realise that the money they are giving to states is also public money. They cannot treat state governments like a private companies,” Mr Rajender said.