Congress Government Cheating Farmers: Former Minister Harish Rao

Former minister T. Harish Rao alleged that the Congress government in the state was completely deceiving farmers and that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had shown no concern over paddy procurement.

On Saturday, Harish Rao visited sunflower and paddy procurement centres at the PACS in Chinnakodur mandal headquarters of Siddipet constituency and interacted with farmers who had been waiting for nearly 40 days.

Speaking on the occasion, he alleged that millers were causing losses of around Rs. 700 per acre to farmers in the name of deductions and B-grade classification, while various regulations were being used to exploit them. He accused the Congress government of cheating farmers after promising a bonus for fine varieties of paddy.

Harish Rao said farmers across the state were facing severe difficulties due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms, but the government was neglecting procurement centres. He criticised Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for not conducting even a single review meeting on paddy procurement so far.

Recalling the tenure of former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, he said ministers and officials used to hold meetings before the commencement of paddy harvesting and ensure the availability of gunny bags, lorries and funds so that farmers did not face any inconvenience. However, he alleged that despite farmers waiting at procurement centres for over a month and a half, the present government had failed to respond.

Harish Rao stated that while sunflower yields in the Chinnakodur region ranged between 9 and 10 quintals per acre , authorities had imposed a limit of only 6.5 quintals , and even within that limit procurement was not taking place. Officials were reportedly stating that the Central government quota had been exhausted, but he said it was the responsibility of the state government to support farmers.

He further alleged that the government was advising farmers to adopt crop diversification, but was failing to procure crops such as sunflower, maize, bengal gram and jowar, which reflected a double standard. He also claimed that despite fixing a procurement limit of 26 quintals for maize , purchases were not being carried out properly and farmers were being forced to arrange gunny bags on their own.

Harish Rao said sunflower procurement had come to a halt, leaving harvested produce exposed in heaps for the past 40 days, resulting in deterioration in quality. While the Minimum Support Price stood at Rs. 7,720 per quintal , private traders were offering only Rs. 5,000 , causing losses of nearly Rs. 27,000 per acre to farmers, he alleged.

He further stated that due to heavy stock accumulation in the Siddipet market yard, farmers’ paddy and maize produce had not been allowed inside for the past four days because of a shortage of lorries. In such conditions, farmers were being forced to wait for weeks at procurement centres for moisture tests, gunny bags, weighing, transport and milling procedures. Harish Rao criticised the government, saying it had failed to deliver justice to the farming community.