Over 6,000 farmers wait for bonus for fine variety paddy in Mancherial

Farmers said they were waiting to receive the bonus since January. They noted that they are facing inconvenience due to delay in the release of the bonus

Mancherial: Over 6,000 farmers in the district have been waiting for the payment of the promised bonus of Rs 500 per quintal to fine paddy variety for over three months now.

Paddy crop was cultivated in 2.10 lakh acres in the recently concluded Vanakalam season in the district. As many as 1.02 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured through 309 centres in the district. While 58,363 metric tonnes of paddy was coarse, paddy grains of various fine varieties accounted for 44,344 metric tonnes. The cost of the paddy produce was around Rs 200 crore.

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Civil Supplies officials said 7,517 farmers sold fine quality paddy to the government in this Vanakalam season expecting they would get bonus to the tune of Rs 22.17 crore. Barely 1,275 farmers received the incentive worth Rs 4.46 crore so far. A total of 6,242 farmers are still waiting for the remaining Rs 17.71 crore.

Farmers said they were waiting to receive the bonus since January. They noted that they are facing inconvenience due to delay in the release of the bonus. They would be able to grow crops in the Yasangi season only if the bonus was sanctioned, they said, urging officials to take steps to sanction the financial support.

On February 22, led by former Mancherial MLA Nadipelli Diwakar Rao, the cadres blocked the traffic on the busy road for a while in Dandepalli mandal centre protesting against the delay in releasing the bonus, citing inconvenience to farmers. They demanded that the government release the financial support at the earliest.