30% of paddy produced is already sold to traders due to slow procurement: BRS

Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader T. Harish Rao speaking at a farmers’ protest at Kulcharam in Medak district on Saturday (November 09).
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement

HYDERABAD

Senior leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former minister T. Harish Rao has alleged that the State government has failed in its responsibility of timely procurement of paddy from farmers as only a nominal quantity of the grain has been purchased even a month after the commencement of the exercise.

Participating in a farmers’ protest at Kulcharam in Narsapur constituency of Medak district on Saturday he said the claims of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy stating that his government had completed the implementation of crop loan waiver was a height of betrayal.

Except for a few virtual meetings on the procurement exercise by Minister for Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy there was no focus on paddy purchases though untimely rains had damaged the harvested crop both at the harvesting platforms and at market yards/procurement centres. As a result, the farmers were forced to sell their produce to traders at a much lesser price (₹1,700 per quintal) than the minimum support price (₹2,800 per quintal including ₹500 bonus). About 30% of paddy produced was already purchased by traders, he claimed.

The previous BRS government had implemented several pro-farmer schemes without making any pre-poll promise or demand from farmers unlike Congress citing the implementation Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and 24×7 free power. He alleged that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had betrayed farmers and also deceived gods by vowing in their name on farm loan waiver. Unfortunately, the Chief Minister was now misleading the Maharashtra people that the Congress government in Telangana had fulfilled six guarantees and other promises and had implemented ₹2 lakh crop loan waiver.