Maize farmers’ protest disrupts traffic in Nagarkurnool, demand immediate procurement

Maize farmers’ protest over delayed procurement disrupted traffic in Nagarkurnool. Farmers alleged irregularities in the procurement process, including delays in fingerprint verification and transport of stocks. Police intervened, while officials assured that procurement would be expedited.

Nagarkurnool: Traffic was disrupted for a while as Maize farmers continued their protest against the Congress government for the third day on Saturday at Nellikonda crossroads.

Raising slogans, they demanded procurement of stocks. Vehicles heading to Srisailam, Achampet and similarly those moving towards Mahabubnagar and Hyderabad in the opposite direction were stuck in traffic jams.

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Generally, after procuring stocks from the farmers, the officials scan their finger print, which indicates that the procurement exercise is completed.

However, the officials were not scanning the finger prints and making the farmers stay put at the market yards. This apart, the officials were delaying the shifting of stocks to godowns, citing the dearth of trucks, reports said.

Amid these practices, the farmers are fuming that the delay in procurement was resulting in additional financial burden. Due to the delay in scanning the finger prints and shifting the stocks to godowns, farmers were fuming that they were forced to pay additional waiting hire charges for the tractors, which carried stocks to the market yard.

With traffic getting disrupted, the police had to intervene and convince the farmers to give up their protest. Later, the officials also assured to expedite the procurement exercise.

Similarly, the maize farmers at Dharoor mandal in Vikarabad are up in arms against the government for failing to procure their stocks.

Extending support to the farmers, former Minister P Sabithaindra Reddy and former MLA Methuku Anand visited Nagsanpally and Tarigopula villages and interacted with them.

Even as the farmers were transporting the stocks from villages, the officials have not opened the procurement centres. At one end, the district Collector says they were yet to get instructions from the government on procurement, local officials claim the procurement centre has been opened, she slammed.

“Despite the farmers struggling to protect their stocks from the unseasonal rains, the officials are delaying the procurement,” Sabithaindra Reddy fumed.

She appealed to the District Collector to initiate measures for setting up procurement centres in the villages and bail out farmers from the crisis.