Telangana BJP urged the TRS government to immediately release the payments due to farmers regarding paddy procured from them during the Yasangi (rabi) season on Wednesday.
In a letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the government had taken up purchase of paddy produced during the Yasangi season after a prolonged struggle by the BJP. But, in many districts, payment to farmers have not been done causing a lot of anxiety for them.
“Farmers do not have money for taking up agriculture though the kharif season has commenced and hence, forced to depend on private moneylenders,” he claimed.
In the erstwhile combined Karimnagar district, the government had procured 11.2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 1,91,852 farmers through 1,286 procurement centres. Total cost of the paddy was ₹2,197.16 crore, but the government is yet to pay ₹517.16 crore to farmers, he pointed out.
The BJP leader blamed the TRS government’s “indecisive and arrogant attitude” for farmers not raising paddy in 14 lakh acres in the rabi season despite the “BJP government at the Centre giving lot of clarity on paddy procurement”. “The TRS government had made innocent farmers a scapegoat for its political benefits”, he alleged.
The government should also take steps to arrange seeds and fertilizers for farmers so that they can commence agriculture operations, he demanded, and regretted that neither the Agriculture Minister nor officials have bothered to take up any field visits so far. Mr. Sanjay Kumar called for district collectors’ meetings with all farmers’ associations and political parties to discuss farmers’ issues and extend input cost benefits.
In a separate development, the TS party unit and allied wings hailed the decision of the Central leadership in nominating former Governor Draupadi Murmu as the presidential candidate.
