YSRTP president Y.S. Sharmila came down heavily on the State Government alleging that it had failed to offer minimum support price (MSP) to farmers and they are being robbed by middlemen. She said that farmers are unable to sell their produce.
speaking to reporters here during a break to her padayatra on Sunday, Ms. Sharmila said that farmers are losing heavily as government failed to enforce MSP. “Farmers are losing about ₹400 per quintal totaling about ₹20,000 per acre whereas they are being offered ₹5,000 under Rytu Bandhu. Where is the comparison? MSP comes to every farmer whereas Rytu Bandhu is limited to farmers having pattadar passbooks and not tenant farmers,” said Ms. Sharmila adding that during the tenure of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, farmers were paid in addition to MSP.
Stating that getting MSP is a right of farmers, she asked whom should the farmer approach for their right. Alleging that the farmers are not getting crop loss due to natural calamities, she said that about 8,000 farmers had committed suicide in the last eight years and asked who should be held responsible for this. She also found fault with implementing Rytu Beema for farmers below the age of 59 years.
“In the last one month only 6 lakh matric tonnes of paddy was procured by the government. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has been committing mistakes one after other. At first he said that there will be no procurement and centres will not be opened. About 17 lakh acres was kept uncultivated by farmers,” she said adding that those who cultivated paddy and who had not sown paddy have been facing problems. Informing that she visited several procurement centres, Ms. Sharmila recalled her experience with farmers who told her that they have been waiting for days to sell their produce and unable to get MSP.
