Hyderabad: The Congress in Telangana on Sunday said it will raise in Parliament, the issue of immediate procurement of paddy, besides planning a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi between December 9 and 13.
Alleging that the TRS government in Telangana and BJP-led government at the Centre have jointly conspired to create the present paddy procurement crisis in the state, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President and Congress MP A Revanth Reddy was quoted in a party release as saying that an all-party delegation would submit a representation to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on November 29.
In his concluding speech of two-day ‘Vari Deeksha’ (paddy protest) organised by Kisan Congress here, Reddy announced that the Congress would wage a long and decisive battle to protect the interest of paddy farmers of Telangana.
Revanth Reddy, other party MPs from Telangana N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, along with senior party leaders, participated in the two-day protest that began on Saturday, demanding that the state and Central governments procure paddy immediately to provide relief to farmers. Their demands include the immediate purchase of paddy presently lying in the fields, purchase of wet paddy (due to rains) for Minimum Support Price, providing compensation to farmers for paddy which started sprouting due to rains and announcement of the government’s stance over the summer crop.
The TPCC president alleged that several farmers lost their lives due to delays in selling their paddy produce at the barns or procurement centres.
He also said thousands of farmers are still waiting to sell lakhs of tonnes of paddy to procurement centres.
“Following unseasonal rains, paddy stocked at many procurement centres got soaked and started sprouting. This is not a natural disaster, but the devastation caused due to the negligent, cruel and idiotic attitude of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,” he alleged.
Both TRS and BJP leaders were “enacting a drama” of supporting the paddy farmers, but complicated the issue further, he claimed.
The TPCC chief also strongly condemned Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar for issuing “dictates” to farmers against cultivating paddy in the ‘yasangi’ summer crop season.