Former Minister Eatala Rajender demanded the TRS Government to immediately begin paddy procurement by opening centres across Telangana and reduce the anxiety among farmers, keeping aside ‘political grandstanding’.
“All the southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka, have begun the procurement process and paddy is ready to be harvested but the government here has not yet taken any decision. Is this fair? Is this how a government is run?,” he questioned at a press conference at the party office on Friday.
‘Problem of plenty’
The BJP leader said it was, perhaps, for the first time that the farmers are facing distress not because of a drought but a problem of plenty where there is ample water and power supply as is being claimed by the government “The Centre is ready to buy raw rice and instead of continuing to politicise the issue, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should revive the procurement centres and start the process for farmers’ sake,” he said.
Comparing KCR with Roman Emperor Nero, Mr. Rajender said that the government has not taken a single step towards paddy procurement when the crop is ripe for harvesting which indicates a ‘cruel’ bent of mind. “The Chief Minister had earlier announced one crore acres will be cultivated with irrigation projects being built at a great cost so that farmers can grow any crop and every grain will be purchased. Free power, Rythu Bandhu and others were meant to encourage agriculture but what is happening now?,” he wondered.
‘KCR’s making’
The current crisis is purely the “making of KCR” as once he had warned farmers against cultivating paddy last year and this led to crop growth of just 30 lakh acres this season, he said, and suggested that if the government spends about ₹700 crore, when ₹30,000 crore is the farm budgeted outlay, machinery can be upgraded for milling raw rice.
“Parboiled rice can also be sold for use in industries or exported as the price difference is just ₹10 but this CM neither has the foresight nor showed interest in responding to the rice millers’ demand for subsidies. KCR’s whimsical policies based on his own thoughts has led to this sorry scenario and now, he wants to shift the blame onto the Centre,” he charged.
“The least that the CM can do is negotiate with the Centre to seek funds or part with procurement of parboiled rice this season instead of sabre rattling,” he said.
In a separate press conferance, Dubbak MLA M. Raghunandan Rao has accused the police of playing a partisan role in not stopping TRS activists from disrupting his official programme on Thursday. Mr. Rao also charged that the police have not arrested those who had broken the foundation stone for a new market, which was destruction of public property.
“If the police think this is the way it wants to function, there is no need for any security for me. I challenge anyone for a debate on my work in the constituency and demand a probe into this incident,” he said.
