Not CCI, state failed cotton farmers: BJP

Hyderabad: Alleging that TRS ministers have made it a “fashion” to criticise the Centre to cover up their inefficiencies, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Sunday criticised the TS government for holding the Cotton Corporation of India responsible for cotton not being purchased from farmers.

“The delay in announcing drought-hit mandals in Ts by the state government resulted in it failing to utilise the over Rs 200 crore in assistance from the Centre. We neither received the list of drought-hit mandals nor the list of farmers who committed suicide,” Mr Dattatreya said.

He also held the state government responsible for failing to issue ID cards, (mandatory for the purchasing agencies at the various market yards) to cotton farmers.

The Union minister questioned the state government why it had not directed the State Marketing Federation to intervene in cotton purchases, like in Maharashtra.

“The CCI’s role is intervention only if market falls or touches the MSP level. The state government can now encourage private traders and see that farmers can get more than MSP for their produce,” Mr Dattatreya said.

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