Congress urges Governor to visit market yards

‘Direct State government to come up with comprehensive policy on rabi cropping pattern’

Telangana Congress has represented to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to personally visit the threshing yards and paddy farmers and procurement centres to see for herself the pathetic plight of farmers emerging out of State government’s failure to procure paddy.

A delegation of the Congress party leaders comprising of Manthani MLA D. Sreedhar Babu, Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, former MP V. Hanmantha Rao, Kisan cell leaders M Kodanda Reddy and Anvesh Reddy met the Governor and submitted a memorandum seeking her intervention and direction to the State government. The representation said that proper facilities be created at every village and ensure that paddy is immediately procured with MSP, including the paddy that has germinated due to untimely rains, without penalising farmers on the pretext of high moisture content.

The leaders also asked the Governor to direct the State government to come up with comprehensive policy on rabi cropping pattern. In the case of alternate crops, the government must come up with incentive schemes like the Chhattisgarh government that provided ₹9,000 per acre of incentive to farmers growing millets. If MSP is declared for alternate crops during Rabi, farmers are likely to shift from paddy. The government must come to the rescue of the farmers who were already battered with the pandemic by strengthening rice distribution through Public Distribution System (PDS). They also wanted that the government to procure and convert paddy into rice and directly arrange for sales through Coop Market Federations, Rythu Samanvaya Vedika and other means, at affordable prices to consumers. Later, speaking to reporters Mr. Sreedhar Babu and Rajgopal Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao created paddy crisis to cover up the humiliating defeat in Huzurabad bypoll. Due to this confusion, middlemen and private traders are exploiting farmers and compelling them to sell their paddy at ₹1,200 - ₹1,300 per quintal.