Govt colluded with rice millers, delayed paddy procurement, says Uttam
HYDERABAD: TPCC former president and Nalgonda MP Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao has lost the confidence of the state’s farmers.
Addressing the media in virtual mode, Uttam alleged that the government has colluded with the rice millers and is deliberately delaying the purchase of paddy. The TRS government has been turning the farmers desperate to create conditions for them to sell their produce to millers at a price lower than the MSP, he said.
He demanded that the government procure paddy whether it is discoloured or has high moisture content. The state government should purchase every grain of Paddy at MSP, he said.
He made it clear that the Congress would not accept restrictions on paddy-sowing in the Yasangi season and urged farmers to go ahead with the sowing of paddy in that season. He said the Congress party would fight in the assembly and in Parliament to force the governments to procure paddy from farmers.
Uttam said Telangana is the only state that did not have a crop insurance policy. Even though three years have gone by in the present term of the TRS government, so far the loan waiver scheme for those who face crop loss has not been implemented.
CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said farmers have been losing their lives due to heart strokes as their produce has not been procured. Paddy stocks are giving sprouts as they got soaked in the rains, he said.
MLA D Sridhar Babu said though the state government claimed it would open about 6500 procurement centres, so far only very few centers were opened. The government has no knowledge even on the number of gunny bags required for the purpose, he said.
Congress Kisan Cell national vice-chairman Kodanda Reddy ridiculed minister Dayakar Rao for his statement that paddy was not procured due to the Model Election Code.
AICC official spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said there was gross negligence on the part of the government in procuring paddy and farmers have been shedding blood through their eyes.
