Telangana cotton crisis: CCI Chairman rushes to Hyderabad on Day 2 of ginning mill strike

Ginning mills in Telangana continued an indefinite strike over CCI rules, halting cotton procurement. CCI Chairman Lalit Kumar Gupta arrived in Hyderabad for talks, while BRS leaders engage with farmers to address concerns amid mounting losses and industry protests.

Hyderabad: An indefinite strike by ginning mills and traders paralysed cotton procurement across Telangana for the second consecutive day, leaving farmers in distress and prompting BRS leaders to reach out to growers. In a bid to defuse the escalating crisis, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) Chairman and Managing Director Lalit Kumar Gupta arrived in Hyderabad early on Tuesday for urgent talks.

Gupta is scheduled to chair discussions with senior CCI officials, representatives of the Telangana Cotton and Ginning Mill Owners and Traders Association, and cotton traders. The meeting comes after a late-night video conference on Monday attended by Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy, Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao, senior officials from the Union Ministry of Textiles, and CCI representatives.

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Ginning mill operators said they had no option but to continue the strike, insisting that mounting losses made operations unsustainable. Their protest was triggered by the CCI’s contentious decision to classify ginning mills into L1 and L2 categories and restrict procurement to seven quintals per acre.

The association has termed both measures “discriminatory and impractical”, demanding their immediate withdrawal and calling for unrestricted procurement rights for all notified mills.

“Until CCI completely withdraws these arbitrary rules, the strike will continue indefinitely,” a member of the Telangana Cotton and Ginning Mill Owners and Traders Association said.

With the BRS taking up the issue on behalf of the farmers, party working president KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao are slated to meet cotton growers in Adilabad and Warangal districts on Tuesday.