Restrictions on cotton procurement irk farmers in Telangana’s Adilabad

Officials refuse to buy more than 37 quintals of cotton from each farmer after 4 pm; farmers allege that they were forced to bribe computer operators at ginning mills to sell produce over the stipulated quantity

Adilabad: Farmers were irked by restrictions on sales of cotton at procurement centres, which resumed after an 11-day hiatus caused by glitches in Aadhaar servers on Friday.

The farmers, who were waiting at ginning mills to sell their cotton produce for over 10 days, were relieved when they learned that the process of procurement was resumed. They, however, expressed displeasure when the officials refused to buy more than 37 quintals of cotton from each farmer after 4 pm.

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Mallaiah, a farmer from Chirrakunta in Asifabad mandal, said the cap on purchasing was causing inconvenience to the farmers. He opined that it was unfair to refuse buying cotton more than 37 quintals from a grower. He said the officials were setting such restrictions for the first time.

The disgruntled farmers alleged that they were forced to bribe computer operators at the mills to sell the cotton if it was more than 37 quintals. A farmer charged that he was left with no option but to offer Rs 2,000 to the operator to dispose of his 40 quintals of cotton. The farmers requested the officials to keep a vigil on the operators and marketing secretaries at the procurement centres.

The hapless farmers said the officials were also rejecting cotton citing higher percentage of moisture than stipulated. They lamented that they were now depending on private traders, who quote around Rs 6,500 per quintal as against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7,421 per quintal fixed by the CCI. They were incurring a loss of around Rs 1,000 per quintal.

Officials of the marketing department advised the farmers not to offer bribes to anyone at the time of selling their produce at the mills. Steps would be taken to ensure that the cotton was purchased till 6 pm, they said.

Meanwhile, some private traders were allegedly collecting Aadhaar cards and land titles of farmers in order to sell cotton to the CCI and thus they were able to get the MSP. Seven secretaries were already suspended for issuing temporary registrations to the cotton farmers by flouting norms.