Hyderabad: Former Telangana minister and Congress Member of Legislative council T Jeevan Reddy on Friday, wrote an open letter to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao demanding the state government to build pressure on the Centre for a minimum support price (MSP) on paddy and if that’s not possible, take the responsibility on itself.
He said that millers should be brought under control using district administrations so that they don’t cause trouble to farmers at rice mill points during paddy procurement. He also demanded transportation facilities be set in place for farmers and dues being paid according to the original electronic weight receipt so that extra charges laid on them by millers is restricted.
Jeevan Reddy said that both the state and the central government are shifting blame on each other with regards to procurement of paddy and farmers are struggling due to this behaviour. He termed this behaviour ‘irresponsible’.
“Farmers should have the freedom to produce crops of their choosing. But due to the inability of the state government to provide the minimum support price to farmers, they are forced to produce what the government wants them to. Such restrictions will lead to the detriment of farmer welfare,” he added.
The three major political parties in the state TRS, BJP and Congress took to streets in the last week blaming each other on the issue of paddy procurement. The farmers are upset that instead of solution hunting, political parties are involved in political blame game. Congress leaders from Telangana on the November 18 took out a rally against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state, to protest against the “political drama” between both parties. The grand old party held a rally from Public Gardens till the state Agriculture Commissioner’s office here at Nampally, demanding completion of paddy procurement.