Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on Friday, asked the State government to provide immediate crop compensation to farmers affected by unseasonal rains and expedite the paddy procurement process.
In a communication to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, a copy of which was released to the media, the BJP chief charged the government with being negligent in procuring the grain even after the harvest, which had led to the produce getting wet or washed away in the recent rains.
“Your (CM) warning to farmers not to grow paddy has led to it being sown in just 30 lakh acres, as many got scared. It is also your responsibility to compensate these farmers and those who had suffered loss due to lack of paddy procurement centres or inadequate infrastructure in those opened, forcing them to sell to middlemen,” he said.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar stated that the Centre had reiterated its commitment to purchase every single grain grown in TS and it was now up to the TRS government to ensure that the assured stock of raw rice is supplied to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) without indulging in “political games”.
The Central Government pays all the expenses required for the procurement of grain like gunny bags, operating costs of procurement centres, and millers’ commissions, but the TS government had failed to get sufficient number of gunny bags and despite the Met department forecasting unseasonal rains, it had shown “criminal negligence” in not taking timely steps, he charged.
He added that thus far, only 2,500 procurement centres were opened as against 7,500 needed to purchase 74 lakh metric tonnes of grain and not even 10% was procured. The Civil Supplies department officials and other ministers instead of looking into the farmers’ problems have been objecting to the checks on rice mills and questioned their motive. “Are they worried about irregularities being exposed because of FCI inspections?,” he asked.
He called upon the government to open more procurement centres and ensure even wet paddy is purchased at MSP fixed by the Centre.
BJP MLA T. Raja Singh vowed that the party will continue to put before people Prohibition & Excise Minister V. Srinivas Goud’s ‘scams’ in Mahabubnagar district and claimed that his own partymen have been openly complaining about his ‘excesses’. “We are not going to be threatened by his abusive warning and will not tolerate if he runs down our party president,” he added.
