HYDERABAD: Stating that only about 50% of the total paddy brought to the procurement centres has been purchased, the Congress has demanded that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao ensure that procurement process is expedited as unseasonal rains and early monsoon are worrying the farmers.
AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said KCR should hold a meeting with bankers and ensure that fresh crop loans are given to farmers as the banks have stopped it.
Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, while addressing a meeting in Rajampet in Kamareddy district as part of Rythu Rachabanda, said the Congress, if voted to power, will waive off crop loans of up to ₹2 lakh of each farmers and extend ₹15,000 financial assistance per acre to small, marginal and tenant farmers.
“Thousands of farmers are waiting at their ‘khallas’ (farmyards) with tens of hundreds of tonnes of paddy for procurement. They are worried due to lack of transport or other logistics facilities to transport the harvested paddy to the centres,” he said.
He said due to the delay on the part of the government to procure paddy, the farmers are forced to sell their paddy to private traders and millers at prices lower than the MSP.
