The Centre has drastically reduced paddy procurement from Telangana with the procurement coming down to 28.96 lakh metric tonnes in Rabi 2021-22 as against 61.87 lakh metric tonnes in 2020-21.
The figures were revealed by Union Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a reply to a question raised by Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Mr. Reddy blamed both the BJP and the TRS governments for the poor procurement and their paddy politics at the cost of farmers. “They have jointly destroyed Telangana’s paddy farmers by reducing procurement by over 50%. The BJP government tried to throttle the livelihood of lakhs of paddy farmers of Telangana and the TRS remained a mute spectator in this destruction,” he alleged.
Mr. Uttam Reddy said that the Union Minister admitted the rice receipt operations were suspended for a brief period from July 6 to 19 due to non-distribution of rice under PMKAY Phase-VI and non-action against default millers. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has not taken any action against the rice millers who defaulted and he must explain why no action was taken and why is he still not acting against the rice millers who have acquired government paddy running to hundreds of crores of rupees?
“Was it done deliberately to provide the BJP government with an excuse to stop paddy procurement from Telangana? KCR must explain why ration card holders were not supplied under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana, as mentioned by the Centre in the Lok Sabha,” he asked.
He reminded that many farmers committed suicide due to non-procurement of paddy while lakhs of others fell into huge debt traps after they were forced to sell their produce to millers at prices lower than the MSP. He demanded a high-level inquiry into the default committed by the rice millers and their connection with the ruling TRS and BJP leaders.
