Govt failed to purchase paddy from farmers: Congress

Hanumakonda: Left to their fate, farmers were a worried lot, Warangal DCC president Naini Rajender Reddy said. Naini Rajender Reddy, who inspected harvested paddy at Nagaram village under Hasanparthy mandal on Thursday, said that both the Centre and State governments were trying to evade the procurement of paddy.

"Instead of warring over paddy procurement, the Centre and the State governments should come to the rescue of farmers," Naini Rajender Reddy said. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have been responsible for the distress of the farmers. He said that it's difficult to cultivate other crops as the soil and local climatic conditions suit well for the cultivation of paddy. He demanded the State government to open procurement centres immediately and start purchasing paddy including the soaked crop to save the farmers from losses. He found fault with the KCR government for not having farm policy in the State.

Warangal DCC president said that the government had opened 4,743 procurement centres against the requirement of 6,772. Half of the centres are yet to start purchasing paddy. On the other hand, untimely rains had caused a huge loss to farmers, he added. He demanded the government to make payments to the farmers from whom it purchased paddy. He also urged the government to control the millers who are causing loss to farmers in the name of 'shortage'.

As part of Praja Chaitanya Yatra, the Congress workers submitted a memorandum to the Hanumakonda district Collector Rajeev Gandhi Hanumanthu. Senior leaders Siricilla Rajaiah, Namindla Srinivas, Enagala Venkatram Reddy, B Srinivas Rao, Manavata Roy, Thota Venkateshwarlu, Pothula Sriman, Dr Puli Anil Kumar, Dommati Sambaiah, Kothapally Srinivas, Banka Sarala, Md Ayub were among others present.