"paddy"

Bhatti Vikramarka assured that even drenched and germinated paddy would also be purchased by the State government at the Minimum Support Price.

In Karimnagar, about 2.27 lakh metric tons of paddy has been procured from 37,500 farmers through 321 purchasing centres. So far, Rs.414 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of 27,367 farmers.

Sandeep, who was waiting for his turn for almost one month, took this decision after being frustrated with the officials not even weighing his paddy.

Former BRS MP says farmers are the worst-hit because of the ill-advised moves of the State government.

Nizamabad, which is the largest paddy growing district in the State, is estimated to have a paddy yield of about 15 lakh metric tonnes this season.

A report was submitted to a committee recommending Narayana’s suspension. The committee would inquire into the issue and make a decision, he said.

The BRS cadre staged the demonstrations in all Assembly constituencies following a call given by party president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Rauthu Sattaiah, a farmer, alleged that the staffers at the centre were secretly stealing around three kilograms of grains per bag by tampering with the weighing machine.

Crops were damaged in some places while paddy kept at procurement centres were drenched, while harvested paddy on several acres that was to be shifted to the procurement centres too was affected by the rains.

The incident left the entire village in shock. Meanwhile, several parts of Sangareddy and Medak districts received heavy rains on Sunday afternoon.

"We will take steps to see that paddy from outside the State was not allowed into the market," he said, adding that the the promise of crop loan waiver up to Rs.2 lakh would be implemented on or before August 15.

Beddapla Somaiah, a farmer from Tekenapalli village in Hajipur mandal said the paddy was not purchased even after it was brought to the centre a fortnight ago.

Senior officials drafted for monitoring the minimum support price (MSP) operations are reaching out to the purchase centres as part of their stock taking exercise from time to time.

According to Dubbak Rural Inspector Srinivas, two farmers Vasuri Yadaiah and Vasuri Tirupathaiah, had spread paddy on the road to dry at Chinna Chinthakunta.

Manu Chowdary asked officials to make available sufficient tarpaulins at all procurement centres to help the farmers protect the paddy.

Farmers rushed to the procurement centres to cover their paddy heaps with tarpaulins. Since the procurement of the paddy was going on at a snail's pace, most of the paddy was still at the procurement centres.

Though farmers tried to protect crops by covering their produce with tarpaulins, some of the farm produce was drenched in rainwater.

Paddy ready for harvest and stocks close to the paddy purchase centre were exposed to rains in different districts including Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Kamareddy recently

Hanumanthu said the government had cleared pending bills of farmers to a tune of Rs. 98 crore.

He expressed anger, asking how much longer farmers would have to wait to sell their crops at the procurement centres.