Centre disappoints Telangana again

Hyderabad: Much to the disappointment of farmers, the Centre on Friday failed to give any assurance on enhancing rice procurement from the State. Though the State government has pinned hopes on the Union government, the Telangana delegation led by Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy was forced to return home with empty promises, after more than […]

Hyderabad: Much to the disappointment of farmers, the Centre on Friday failed to give any assurance on enhancing rice procurement from the State. Though the State government has pinned hopes on the Union government, the Telangana delegation led by Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy was forced to return home with empty promises, after more than two hours of deliberations.

Expressing his displeasure over the inconclusive meeting with Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution System Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Friday, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy told the mediapersons that the deliberations have turned futile as the Union Minister made it clear that it was impossible to fix annual targets for rice procurement. However, he advised farmers against cultivating paddy in Yasangi (Rabi) season as the Central government will not procure the crop.

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“During the previous meeting, the Union Minister gave us hope promising to respond positively to our request to enhance the rice procurement from 40 lakh tonnes to 80-85 lakh tonnes. But today, he tried to evade the issue stating that it would be difficult to fix annual targets. Further, they have not clarified on the extent of rice that would be procured for the current Vaanakalam (Kharif) season for which purchases have already begun. We are returning with much disappointment,” he said.

The Minister said the Union government which has refused to procure parboiled rice, did not even clarify on the quantity of raw rice that would be purchased for Yasangi season and instead, advised farmers not to cultivate paddy at all. When informed that the State government was creating awareness among farmers to take up alternative crops, the BJP State leaders were encouraging farmers to cultivate paddy during Yasangi season, promising that the Central government would purchase their crop. “Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed us that they were sensitising the BJP State leaders and advising them against asking farmers to cultivate paddy,” he added.

Further, Piyush Goyal told the Telangana Ministers that the Union government was constituting a committee to study the issues faced by farmers across the country, which will make recommendations on the crops that should be cultivated by farmers in an area. However, he admitted to the reports that paddy was cultivated in over 58 lakh acres in Telangana during Vaanakalam season.

Ministers Mohd Mahmood Ali, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Ch Malla Reddy, MPs Nama Nageshwara Rao, KR Suresh Reddy, BB Patil, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and others were members of the delegation.

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