BJP Bus Yatra Targets Paddy Procurement Failures
Ramchander Rao alleged that farmers across the state were facing severe hardship due to the administration’s complacency: Reports
HYDERABAD: A BJP delegation led by state party president N. Ramchander Rao, along with BJP legislative floor leader A. Maheshwar Reddy, MPs, MLAs and MLCs has launched a field level ‘Rythu Gosa-BJP Bharosa’ yatra, touring paddy procurement centres in Telangana to highlight what it calls the Congress government’s “utter failure” in grain procurement. The team began its journey at Kulakacharla procurement centre in Parigi and held direct talks with distressed farmers.
Ramchander Rao alleged that farmers across the state were facing severe hardship due to the administration’s complacency. He said that heaps of paddy continue to lie unattended at procurement centres with farmers waiting 10-15 days for lorries and weighing, while tarpaulins, gunny bags and other basic arrangements are missing.
The BJP leader claimed that the party’s Kisan Morcha state president had already met the Chief Secretary and the agriculture minister two months ago urging them to make advance arrangements, but the government had ignored the warnings.
Rao asserted that the moment the BJP delegation announced its visit to procurement centres, officials suddenly became active, dispatching tractors with gunny bags late at night and in the early morning and pressuring farmers to fill and load the paddy hastily into millers’ trucks.
He quoted local farmers as saying that the authorities were now trying to “stage a drama” of completed procurement just to whitewash the situation.
The BJP state chief maintained that this spontaneous action actually exposed the complete breakdown of the procurement system under the Congress regime. He said the BJP team was documenting these irregularities to stand firmly with farmers and demanded that the government immediately provide adequate infrastructure and ensure that all paddy stocks were procured speedily, without causing any loss to the farming community.
Maheshwar Reddy alleged that the Congress government has been “totally negligent” towards farmers since coming to power.
He accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of giving “false figures”, claiming that 80% of the paddy harvest has already been procured, while ground level information from farmers shows that only 25–30% of stocks have actually been bought.
He accused the Congress regime of “systematic failure” and “rampant exploitation” of farmers. He claimed that the government had failed on all promises — Rythu Bandhu, loan waiver, crop insurance and bonus — and alleged that despite adequate urea supply from the Centre, poor distribution through apps was forcing farmers to buy the fertiliser from the black market.
At procurement centres, he said, middlemen are levying extra charges, including ₹30–₹50 per gunny bag, ₹30 additional hamali fee, and up to ₹2–₹3 kg per bag as “tare” and millers’ cuts, amounting to 10–12% weight deduction per bag. “Is this ‘abhya hasta’ (protective hand) they talk about,” he asked, “or a ‘kabandha hasta’ (strangling hand) that throttles the farmer?”
MPs Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, M. Raghunandan Rao, Etala Rajender, D. K. Aruna and MLAs Paidi Rakesh Reddy, Venkataramana Reddy, Palvai Harish Babu and MLCs A.V. N. Reddy, Malka Komaraiah, chief spokesperson N. V. Subash and others took part in bus yatra.