Centre should review its decision and procure paddy: KTR

Hyderabad: Coming down on the Centre heavily for refusing to procure paddy from the State, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said the Centre should review its decision and procure paddy as per statutes. The Centre has not extended any support to Telangana which provided irrigation facilities for agriculture, he said. Addressing the media […]

Hyderabad: Coming down on the Centre heavily for refusing to procure paddy from the State, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said the Centre should review its decision and procure paddy as per statutes.

The Centre has not extended any support to Telangana which provided irrigation facilities for agriculture, he said.

Addressing the media in Sircilla, the Minister assured that the State government would buy the entire vanakalam produce. So far, about 52,000 metric tonne has been procured in the district and about three lakh tonne was yet to be procured. He asked the officials to make efforts to procure wet grains as well. In all, there 4,743 procurement centres in the State.

Rama Rao said a Maha Dharna will be held at Indira Park on Thursday to highlight the plight of farmers due to Centre’s decision to not buy the yasangi paddy. The Centre is interested in collecting taxes from the State but is not keen on buying paddy from the State, the Minister said opposing the stand taken by the Centre.

He said the local BJP leaders were indulging in false propaganda and farmers would lose out if they plant paddy this season based on their false claims. If the claims of the local leaders were true, the Centre should give a written assurance on buying the paddy this yasangi. If it does not, the BJP leaders should apolgise to the farmers for the misinformation they are spreading.

The Minister asked the farmers to believe the actions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and get deceived political propaganda.

Manair tragedy
Meanwhile, Rama Rao asked the officials to set up warning signs at Manair to ensure that accidents do not happen. He visited Sircilla on Wednesday after six teenagers who went swimming in Manair river drowned on Monday.

The youngsters belonged to Rajiv Nagar and aged between 13 and 16. He urged parents to teach children about safety and precautions to be be taken at water bodies. Children should also be careful at the water bodies, he said adding that water looked serene from the top but would be different at depths.

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