Hyderabad: The Congress in Telangana State has urged the State government to put in place a mechanism by which farmers will be able to sell unprocured paddy and maize crops at Minimum Support Price “as announced by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.”
In a memorandum submitted to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar here on Monday, chairman of the party’s Covid-19 Task Force Marri Shashidhar Reddy also demanded compensation for farmers for the “heavy” deduction in paddy by rice millers and for the losses due to damage in the recent rains.
Stating that the Congress does not see any scope for improvement in procurement even after the last date for procurement was extended from May 31 to June 8, the Congress leader, quoting media reports, said the Chief Minister had announced at a media conference on March 29 that the State government would procure the entire yield at MSP announced by the Centre.
“The promised quantities of paddy and maize have not been procured even after opening more centre this year,” he said, and alleged that TRS functionaries were dominating at procurement centres and that the procurement system was flawed.
“As against the normal deduction of 1.5 to two kg per quintal of paddy, miller were forcing and even blackmailing farmers that unless they accepted a deduction of six to 10 kg per quintal, they would not unload the paddy at the mills,” Shashidhar Reddy said, and sought a categorical assurance from the government on these issues.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
