Harish Rao blames delayed procurement for damage to paddy stocks

Former minister T Harish Rao blamed delays in procurement for damage to paddy stocks at procurement centres following unseasonal rains. He demanded MSP procurement of wet grain, immediate completion of procurement operations and accused the Congress government of neglecting farmers’ concerns.

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao said that the paddy at procurement centres was damaged only due to delay in purchasing the paddy by government. Speaking to news reporters after examining the soaked paddy in Chinna Kodur mandal, Ibrahimnagar and Gonapally villages on Wednesday, Harish Rao said that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was making claims that they had completed 80 per cent of procurement. Demanding that Revanth visit the procurement centres to understand the reality, Rao said that the Chief Minister was just confined to AC meeting halls.

He further accused the Congress and BJP of playing a blame game against each other shirking their responsibilities. While BJP was staging protests on delay in paddy and other grains procurement, Rao said that the Congress was blaming BJP on fuel price hikes. He demanded that the BJP leaders meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the state’s quota of paddy increased instead of engaging in a blame game.

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The BRS government under the leadership of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao put all the efforts to get the Kaleshwaram water to Siddipet, the former minister said adding that Congress could not purchase even the grains from farmers. Usually, he said that the procurement of paddy is completed by May month end every year, but the Congress government delayed the process in the name of tagging and other new rules.

Stating that farmers were inconsolable upon seeing the rain water in the procurement centres on Wednesday morning, he feared that the grain would start sprouting by tomorrow morning. Rao demanded that the government stop all kinds of transportation including the sand transportation except for emergency services, to complete the procurement on war footing. He further demanded the government to purchase the wet paddy at MSP.