Farmers intensify protests across Telangana over delayed procurement

Farmers across Telangana staged widespread protests against the Congress government, demanding immediate procurement of maize, paddy, and jowar crops. Demonstrations erupted in Kamareddy, Adilabad, Warangal, Mulugu, and Narayanpet, with farmers squatting on highways and staging rasta rokos.

Hyderabad: Undeterred by scorching heat, farmers are hitting the streets and staging protests against the Congress government over the delay in procurement of their stocks.

Farmers, who cultivated maize, paddy, jowar, and other crops in different districts, squatted on the roads and raised slogans against the government on Saturday.

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Tension prevailed in Timmakpally in Kamareddy after paddy farmers charged that officials were not procuring the stocks. It has been over three weeks since crops have been harvested and officials, for reasons better known to them, were failing to commence the procurement, they charged.

The farmers entered into arguments with the officials at IKP centre. They demanded the officials initiate measures for procurement and threatened to intensify their protests if their demands were not considered.

At Kobhai in Adilabad, jowar and chickpeas farmers squatted on the national highway. They charged that despite repeated appeals, the officials were not commencing the procurement and forcing them to stage protests under scorching heat.

Former Minister Jogu Ramana and other BRS leaders supported the farmers’ protest. Due to the protest, traffic on the Adilabad- Maharashtra route was affected severely for a considerable time. Similar scenes were witnessed at Tigarajupalle, Sangem in Warangal.

Maize farmers have been waiting for the procurement to commence for the last four days. Irked over the officials’ apathy, the farmers staged a rasta roko near the Bhagyanagar weighbridge on the fringes of Tigarajupalle village.

At Mulugu too, the farmers staged a rasta roko on National Highway 169 (NH-169) in protest against the inordinate delay in procurement of their stocks. The maize farmers raised slogans against the Congress government for failing to commence the procurement and squatted on the road at Mallampally mandal.

At Maganuru in Narayanpet, farmers are up in arms against the government for failing to provide gunny bags. Paddy farmers complained that despite repeated visits to the procurement centres, officials were failing to provide sufficient gunny bags.

On Saturday, about 100 farmers turned up at the Maganuru procurement centre in Krishna mandal. Of these, only 40 farmers were provided gunny bags. At Varkur, the farmers had personally arranged gunny bags from nearby rice mills.

Farmers fumed that even after a month since harvesting of crops, officials were not providing gunny bags.