BJP at Centre, Congress in the State have made lives of farmers miserable, says Harish Rao
Harish Rao blamed the BJP-led Centre and Telangana Congress government for the cotton farmers’ crisis, citing restrictive CCI rules and low procurement prices. He demanded immediate policy revisions and criticised leaders for neglecting farmers’ welfare amid crop damage and mounting losses.
Warangal: Faulty policies of the BJP government at the Centre and negligent attitude of the Congress government in Telangana have made farmers’ life miserable in the State, former minister T Harish Rao said.
Cotton farmers, who were already distressed due to the floods, were troubled by Cotton Corporation of India’s (CCI) Tughlaq -like decisions. With L1, L2, L3 categorisation of ginning mills, the rule of 8 to 12 percent moisture and lack of monitoring by CCI cotton farmers were not able to get minimum support price to the produce, he said.
Harish Rao along with BRS senior leaders S Madhusudhana Chary, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Thatikonda Rajaiah, Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar, Satyavathi Rathod and others visited the Enumamula Agriculture Market on Tuesday in the wake of strike by ginning mills.
He interacted with farmers learning about their plight. Speaking to the media he complained that the support price for cotton was Rs 8,100 per quintal but farmers were forced to sell it for Rs 6,000 to private traders due to conditions imposed by the CCI.
Thus cotton farmers were losing Rs 2,000 per quintal. But the Central and State governments failed to act. As the ginning mills across the State have been closed the cotton farmers were in a state of confusion and selling cotton to middlemen at throwaway prices. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who has gone to Delhi 60 times, failed to ask the Centre to address the problems of cotton farmers, the former minister said.
Why has the Chief Minister, who claims to have good relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not asked him to support cotton farmers? Revanth Reddy, who spent money indiscriminately to win the Jubilee Hills bye-elections, was unable to provide the minimum support price to cotton farmers, Harish Rao said.
The crop yield has decreased due to untimely rains. All the crops have been damaged. Farmers were resorting to suicides as they could not get back even the investments they have made on the cultivation. Yet the Congress government remained inactive, he noted.
Harish Rao demanded that the Centre immediately withdraw the L1, L2, L3 categorisation of ginning mills, review the rule of 8 to 12 percent moisture content and cancel the condition of Kisan Kapa App registration and to buy 12 quintals of cotton per acre as was done previously.
Hitting out at the BJP MPs in the State, Harish Rao said that even though there were eight MPs in Telangana, they failed to represent the issues of farmers. Except for criticising the BRS and its chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, BJP MPs have done nothing.
The BJP government has waived off lakhs of crores for big industrialists, but lacks concern towards the poor farming community. By lifting the 11 percent import duty on cotton the Centre has caused irreversible damage to cotton farmers in the country, Harish Rao alleged.
In Revanth Reddy’s rule, as many as 406 farmers died by suicide in Telangana. In addition to that, lathi charges against farmers have increased. Revanth Reddy who was celebrating his two years in power should explain why whether he was celebrating for the problems he caused to farmers or for making farmers stand in long queues for days together for urea bags, the former minister sought to know.
