BRS leader RS Praveen Kumar demands Centre to roll back Kapas Kisan app

A 24-year-old man, Chirra Harish, died after falling into a rotavator attached to a tractor in Punyapuram village of Wyra mandal. He had accompanied a driver to learn tractor driving. Police booked a case and started an investigation

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: BRS leader Dr RS Praveen Kumar slammed the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for imposing restrictions to procure cotton from farmers. He, along with Asifabad MLA Kova Lakshmi, extended solidarity to a protest by various farmer organisations in front of the Integrated District Officers Complex (IDOC) in Asifabad on Saturday.

Praveen Kumar said the corporation hastily rolled out the Android-based application Kapas Kisan, causing inconvenience to the growers. He stated that farmers were struggling to use the application as they were not acquainted with the usage of mobile phones. He demanded that the system be immediately rolled back to bail out the farmers.

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The BRS leader further wanted the union government to enhance the moisture content from 12 percent to 20 percent. He stated that the farmers were forced to die by suicide as they were seeing losses after the corporation refused to buy the cotton citing higher moisture content. He demanded that employees belonging to Andhra Pradesh working at ginning mills be replaced by employees from Telangana.

Praveen Kumar demanded that the corporation lift the cap of purchasing 7 quintals per acre from the farmers. Stating that the policy was helpful to traders, he said the farmers were left with no option but to sell their leftover produce to the traders.

At the same time, Forest officials were not offering compensation for crops damaged by wild boars, but registering cases against farmers for killing wild animals in an attempt to protect their crops. He lamented that neither the Centre nor the State extended compensation to farmers who suffered huge losses due to crop damage caused by recent unseasonal rains.