JOIN US'Will you buy our paddy or not?' KCR's ultimatum to Modi government
Seven years after the formation of the Telangana state, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has donned the agitator role again now demanding the Narendra Modi government to procure paddy from Telangana.
On Thursday, chief minister Rao sat in protest at a dharna organised by his party at the Indira Park in Hyderabad.
“We have only one question. Is the centre going to buy our paddy or not?” Rao asked while addressing the gathering at the venue.
The Rao government accused that the NDA government was not buying rice from Telangana and that lakhs of farmers in the state were suffering because of the centre's unjust policies.
“Farmers are troubled not just in Telangana but all over the country. An agitation is on for over a year in the north against the farm legislation. Our country has 40 crore acres of cropland, hard-working farmers and brilliant scientists to support them. But the government neglect has resulted in India raking worse than countries like Pakistan in the global hunger index,” Rao said.
This is the second agitation by the TRS over the issue in less than a week. Last Friday, the party had organized rallies across the state.
After the Huzurabad bypoll, the TRS and BJP are warring over paddy procurement. T-BJP is countering the TRS claims stating that Rao “is blaming the centre while delaying the procurement process.”
A tour taken up by state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay visiting farmers and yards in the Nalgonda region turned violent earlier this week as the TRS men allegedly attacked the BJP activists and damaged their vehicles.
On Wednesday, Rao wrote to Prime Minister Modi, appealing for completion of the procurement immediately and for the setting of the annual targets.
Rao stated that the Food Corporation of India policies is creating confusion in the minds of the farmers and the state government.
“Target procurement is not fixed for the entire year in one go and even though the production is increasing every year, the procurement is not keeping pace. Due to this, it is becoming difficult for the states to plan an appropriate cropping pattern and explain the same to the farmers,” Rao said in the letter.
The CM complained that when the Kharif 2021 rice output from Telangana was 55.75 LMT, the procurement was only 32.66 Lakh Metric Tonnes i.e., 59 per cent. “This was less than the 78 per cent procurement in Kharif 2019-20. Such wide variations do not allow the state to implement a rational cropping pattern.”
Pointing to the situation, Rao had earlier advised farmers against sowing paddy in Rabi.
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