A bitter political war of words has broken out in Telangana over the procurement of paddy and other agricultural produce during the recently concluded Rabi crop season in the state. The opposition parties–Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the BJP— have alleged that the Congress government had miserably failed in paddy procurement, leaving farmers in the lurch.
“Chief minister A Revanth Reddy is making “irresponsible and misleading” statements on paddy procurement, while farmers across the state are struggling due to unavailability of gunny bags,” BRS working president KT Rama Rao said.
Speaking to the media at the party office in Hyderabad, KTR said farmers arriving at procurement centres were being forced to wait for days to sell their produce, with some collapsing and dying due to extreme heat and stress.
“Even after nearly ten farmers reportedly lost their lives at procurement centres due to heatstroke and government apathy, the chief minister has not reviewed the situation even once,” he said, adding that four farmers had died of heatstroke at Mancherial market yard in the last two days.
The former minister demanded that the state government wake up to the seriousness of the situation and take corrective measures at the cabinet meeting scheduled for May 23.
He further alleged that the government had failed to procure even 35% of the total paddy so far.
He said farmers had also staged demonstrations in the chief minister’s own constituency at Kodangal on Thursday.
The BJP legislature party leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy too alleged that the Congress government had failed to protect farmers and ensure smooth procurement of agricultural produce across the state.
Maheshwar Reddy said many farmers were unable to sell their produce and were falling victim to middlemen and exploitation.
“The farmers are already reeling under the impact of unseasonal rains and were simultaneously preparing for the upcoming monsoon season in June. However, paddy and maize procurement centres across the state were not functioning properly,” he alleged.
He claimed that shortages of lorries and gunny bags were creating serious difficulties for farmers.
He said the state government had not yet opened jowar procurement centres and was issuing “misleading statements” on the issue.
He questioned whether the government would deny the shortages of transport vehicles, delays in maize procurement, lack of gunny bags and the absence of jowar procurement centres, which, he claimed, had forced farmers to guard heaps of produce in market yards.
According to the BJP leader, only 24% of paddy procurement had been completed so far in the state.
He said Telangana’s paddy production stood at around 1.41 crore metric tonnes, while only 90 lakh metric tonnes were procured last year.
“Even if the government’s own claim of procuring 45 lakh metric tonnes this year is accepted, it would amount to only 30-35% procurement,” he said.
Meanwhile, Telangana Rakshana Samithi (TRS) president Kalvakuntla Kavitha also criticised the government over the ongoing agrarian distress and participated in a protest near the Telangana secretariat demanding immediate procurement of paddy, jowar and sunflower crops.
Speaking during the protest, Kavitha said farmers across the state were facing severe hardship as the government had failed to purchase their produce.
She expressed anguish over reports of farmers dying at procurement centres and accused the administration of deducting excessive quantities during procurement.
Refuting the opposition criticism, Telangana civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government was undertaking the largest-ever paddy procurement in the history of Telangana and was fully committed to safeguarding farmers’ interests.
As on Wednesday, the state government had procured 46.21 lakh metric tonnes of paddy out of the 54.29 lakh tonnes that arrived at procurement centres, achieving nearly 85% procurement completion, involving more than 6.32 lakh farmer transactions.
He said procurement operations were actively continuing across the state through an extensive network of 8,575 procurement centres.
Daily procurement, transportation, milling and payment operations were continuing across all districts under constant monitoring, he claimed.
He also described the allegation regarding shortage of gunny bags as completely baseless.
“The government has already positioned 19.78 crore gunny bags in the field, which is sufficient for procurement of the entire paddy that has arrived at the centres,” he said.
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