Open procurement centres to support sunflower farmers, Harish Rao to Congress government

The BRS leader says sowing area details, number of purchase centres must be posted online to keep ryots informed

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao, who went for a walk along the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) distributory canals under Ranganayaka Sagar reservoir on Tuesday, has demanded that the State government open procurement centres to purchase sunflowers from farmers offering them a minimum support price.

Harish Rao, who watched the water flowing into the canals from Ranganayaka Sagar at Salendri village in Chinna Kodur mandal, earlier interacted with farmers to know their issues and then proceeded to Mettupally village where he took selfies with sunflower farmers. With the sunflower farmers complaining about the lack of MSP to the produce in the open market, the former Minister demanded the government to open procurement centres and ensure MSP.

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He urged the government to post the sowing area details and number of procurement centres online to keep the farmers informed. The BRS government under the leadership of K Chandrashekhar Rao had given utmost priority for providing irrigation water to every nook and corner of the State. The results were visible now as Godavari water flowed into agriculture fields in Siddipet, he said, adding that this was possible only because a visionary leader like Chandrashekhar Rao was at the helm of affairs for 10 years.

However, the Congress government had pushed the farmers into crisis within 15 months after they came to power, he said, asserting that the BRS would always fight for the farming community.