Give Rs 600/quintal as bonus to farmers, urges Revanth

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and MP A. Revanth Reddy demanded the government to provide a bonus of Rs 600 per quintal to paddy farmers who had incurred losses of nearly Rs 2,000 crore due to delay in procurement of paddy.

After meeting Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan here on Wednesday, Revanth, along with other senior leaders addressed reporters.

The Congress submitted a report to the Governor regarding the latest situation in Telangana state, he said. Owing to the delay in opening of paddy purchasing centres, farmers had to sell over 30 percent of paddy to middlemen at lower prices, he added.

Revanth stated that the details of farmers who sold paddy are available with the rice millers and the bonus should be paid to them. Rice worth Rs 2,600 crore has disappeared from the state’s godowns and a CBI inquiry should conducted in this regard, he said.

The TPCC president also criticised the TRS and BJP governments for ignoring the interests of paddy farmers to further their political ambitions. The TPCC president said the state government should provide Rs 15,000 as compensation for each acre of agricultural land which has been left idle as a result of official machinery warning farmers not to sow paddy. He said vigilance and CBI  officials must conduct an inquiry over the disappearance of rice. Revanth suggested farmers not to sell paddy at lower prices. He said the Congress will come to power within 12 months and all issues of farmers will be sorted.

Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said they will visit the agriculture market yards to observe paddy procurement. He said that BJP and TRS enacted drama on paddy issue, adding that after Congress comes into power, tenant farmers will also get Rythu Bandhu benefits.

The delegation also urged the Governor to intervene and safeguard the Constitution as well as the people of Telangana state. After staging a dharna in Delhi, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had taken irrational decisions in the cabinet meeting regarding paddy procurement.

They alleged that the Chief Minister had delayed paddy procurement on purpose, forcing many farmers to sell their produce at exteremely low prices to middlemen and millers.

Following warnings from the official machinery, farmers had abandoned paddy and adopted alternate crops such as black gram, green gram, red gram, bengal gram and others on approximately 15–16 lakh acres of land. However, middlemen are also exploiting these farmers as the government is only engrossed in paddy politics, they added.

The Congress leaders further called for a CBI probe on union minister G. Kishan Reddy’s allegations on paddy procurement in Telangana state.