Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the state government to explain its stand on a complaint from jowar farmers of Adilabad district that procurement of their produce in the district is being delayed.
The farmers complained to the court that they were forced to either dump their crop or sell it at severe loss to traders.
The court directed the government, the Adilabad Collector and agriculture officers to come up with their reply in no more than two weeks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Sharma and Justice Abhinand Shavili was dealing with a PIL filed by Rythu Swarajya Vedika activist Borranna seeking urgent procurement of the crop.
Because of the delay, farmers were being forced to sell the jowar crop under severe loss, at a low price of Rs 1,500-1-Rs1,700 per quintal while the minimum support price (MSP) was Rs 2,738.
He said the farmers had extensively harvested jowar following the Chief Minister`s request to farmers to shift to cultivation of alternatives to paddy. He said that jowar was harvested in more than 1 lakh acres in the Rabi season 2021, but procurement orders have not been issued so far for the jowar waiting in the market.
“This is a violation of the rights of livelihood of jowar farmers,” the petitioner said.
