Telangana: Farmers stage ‘rasta roko’ over delay in paddy procurement

Say truckloads of paddy still waiting at procurement centres; since the area is witnessing rains every day, they are finding it difficult to protect the produce

Medak: Farmers from various villages in Kulcharam mandal blocked the traffic on Sangareddy-Medak road at Rangampet village on Wednesday and demanded the government to procure the paddy without any delay.

Since the IMD was predicting more rains in the coming few days, the farmers from Rangampet, Pythara, Konapur, Tukkapur, Vaimanthapur and other nearby villagers staged a ‘rasta roko’. The farmers said truckloads of paddy were still waiting at the procurement centres. Since the area was witnessing rains every day, they said they were finding it difficult to protect the paddy.

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One of the farmers brought the sprouted paddy to the protest venue and was seen crying inconsolably, falling flat on the busy road. As traffic was affected with long lines of vehicles waiting on both sides of the road, the police and other department officials convinced the farmers to withdraw their protest. When they got the assurance from officials, the farmers moved to the procurement centres again.