Paddy procurement: Telangana, Centre set for showdown

Hyderabad: The TRS party is preparing to launch a prolonged political battle to pressurise the BJP-led Central Government on paddy procurement in Yasangi season as was being done in northern States like Punjab. This decision to launch the agitation was taken by TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who held an improptu meeting […]

Hyderabad: The TRS party is preparing to launch a prolonged political battle to pressurise the BJP-led Central Government on paddy procurement in Yasangi season as was being done in northern States like Punjab. This decision to launch the agitation was taken by TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who held an improptu meeting on Saturday with his cabinet colleagues on the issue of paddy procurement in summer.

The Chief Minister, sources said, was particular about exposing the dual standards of the BJP Government in respect of Telangana. He told the Ministers that Centre’s discrimination against Telangana was becoming intolerable and growing day-by-day. While it was refusing steadfastly to procure paddy in summer, in case of Punjab, it was procuring entire quantum of grains produced in both seasons in Punjab.

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For example, last year it had procured 202.82 lakh tonnes in Punjab, whereas in Telangana the figure stood at 141.38 lakh tonnes. Similarly, this year in the Vanakalam (Kharif) season, the Centre had procured 186.86 lakh tonnes in Punjab. whereas it procured only 70.26 lakh tonnes in Telangana.

What was more painful is that the Centre is preparing for procurement of wheat in Yasangi in Punjab, it categorically stated that there would be no procurement in Telangana this season. This discrimination came up for unanimous condemnation from all the participants of the meeting. The Chief Minister was told to lead the agitation even it turned out to be a protracted one. The meeting is stated to have decided to ensure that the agitation is spread to every village, making all the farmers participate in it. The farming community would be sensitised about how the Centre was resorting to discriminatory tactics singling out Telangana, which was registering phenomenal growth after its formation eight years ago.
Chandrashekhar Rao told the participants that it was the Government’s responsibility to protect the farmers’ interests. “Paddy procurement is neither a political issue nor an election related one. But it affects the lives of lakhs of farmers,” Chandrashekhar Rao said.

Telangana Ministers and the Chief Minister himself made several trips to New Delhi with requisitions on paddy procurement in both seasons but the Centre had so far not yielded to the demand. The meeting further resolved that if the Centre continued to give up its responsibility on paddy procurement, then the stocks should be transported in trains and trucks and dumped at India Gate to register the protest.

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