Oppn, Cong clash over paddy procurement in T’gana

HYderabadThe oppositeness parties and the ruling us congress in Telangana on fri indulged in a bitterness political slugfest o'er procurement of paddy and other agricultural produce during the recently concluded Rabi season.The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) alleged that the Congress government had miserably failed in paddy procurement, leaving farmers in the lurch.“Chief minister A Revanth Reddy is making “irresponsible and misleading” statements on paddy procurement, while farmers across the state are struggling due to unavailability of gunny bags,” BRS working president KT Rama Rao said.Speaking to reporters at the party office, KTR said farmers arriving at procurement centres were being forced to wait for days to sell their produce, with some collapsing and dying due to extreme heat and stress.“Even after nearly ten farmers reportedly lost their lives at procurement centres due to heatstroke and government apathy, the chief minister has not reviewed the situation even once,” he said, adding that four farmers had died of heatstroke at Mancherial market yard in the last two days.The former minister demanded that the state government wake up to the seriousness of the situation and take corrective measures at the cabinet meeting scheduled for May 23.He further alleged that the government had failed to procure even 35% of the total paddy so far.He said farmers had also staged demonstrations in the chief minister’s own constituency at Kodangal on Thursday.Addressing a press conference, Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy alleged that the Congress government had failed to protect farmers and ensure smooth procurement of agricultural produce across the state.Maheshwar Reddy said many farmers were unable to sell their produce and were falling victim to middlemen and exploitation.“The farmers are already reeling under the impact of unseasonal rains and were simultaneously preparing for the upcoming monsoon season in June. However, paddy and maize procurement centres across the state were not functioning properly,” he alleged.He claimed that shortages of lorries and gunny bags were creating serious difficulties for farmers.He said the state government had not yet opened jowar procurement centres and was issuing “misleading statements” on the issue.He questioned whether the government would deny the shortages of transport vehicles, delays in maize procurement, lack of gunny bags and the absence of jowar procurement centres, which, he claimed, had forced farmers to guard heaps of produce in market yards.According to the BJP leader, only 24% of paddy procurement had been completed so far in the state.He said Telangana’s paddy production stood at around 1.41 crore metric tonnes, while only 90 lakh metric tonnes were procured last year.“Even if the government’s own claim of procuring 45 lakh metric tonnes this year is accepted, it would amount to only 30-35% procurement,” he said.Maheshwar Reddy announced that BJP MLAs, MLCs and MPs would launch a statewide tour of procurement centres from Monday to assess the ground situation and express solidarity with farmers.“They would inspect procurement centres across the state to examine the extent of paddy and maize procurement,” he said.Meanwhile, Telangana Rakshana Samithi (TRS) president Kalvakuntla Kavitha also criticised the government over the ongoing agrarian crisis and participated in a protest near the Telangana secretariat demanding immediate procurement of paddy, jowar and sunflower crops.Speaking during the protest, Kavitha said farmers across the state were facing severe hardship as the government had failed to purchase their produce.She expressed anguish over reports of farmers dying at procurement centres and accused the administration of deducting excessive quantities during procurement.“We staged the protest by pouring paddy near the secretariat hoping that at least then the government would realise the gravity of the issue,” she said, demanding immediate intervention to ensure procurement without causing inconvenience to farmers.During the protest near the secretariat, police reportedly detained several TRS workers, women protesters and farmers, including Kavitha.The TRS alleged that police personnel behaved aggressively during the arrests and manhandled women and farmers while dispersing the protest.Refuting the opposition criticism, Telangana civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government was undertaking the largest-ever paddy procurement in the history of Telangana and was fully committed to safeguarding farmers’ interests.As on Wednesday, the state government had procured 46.21 lakh metric tonnes of paddy out of the 54.29 lakh tonnes that arrived at procurement centres, achieving nearly 85% procurement completion, involving more than 6.32 lakh farmer transactions.He said procurement operations were actively continuing across the state through an extensive network of 8,575 procurement centres.Daily procurement, transportation, milling and payment operations were continuing across all districts under constant monitoring, he claimed.He also described the allegation regarding shortage of gunny bags as completely baseless.“The government has already positioned 19.78 crore gunny bags in the field, which is sufficient for procurement of the entire paddy that has arrived at the centres,” he said.