Telangana: Harish slams Revanth, says government left farmers in lurch

Says the Chief Minister has no time or interest to address farmers' issues in the State

Khammam: After the Congress came to power, the lives of farmers in the State were thrown into uncertainty, but Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has no time or interest to address farmers’ issues, said former Minister T Harish Rao.

Stating that none of the promises made in ‘Warangal Farmers Declaration’ were fulfilled, the BRS leader said the Congress failed to deliver the promise of bonus for cotton crop. The farmers were also not able to get a minimum support price for the farm produce, he said.

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Harish Rao, along with the BRS district president and MLC Tatha Madhusudhan, MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra, former Ministers Gangula Kamalakar and Puvvada Ajay Kumar visited Khammam Agriculture Market Yard on Friday and interacted with farmers.

Since the cotton procurement commenced in the district, on average, each farmer was paid only Rs 6,500 per quintal cotton, much lower than the MSP of Rs 7,521. Each farmer suffered a loss of Rs 1,000 per quintal of cotton sold in the market and if nonpayment of Rs 500 bonus per quintal included the loss, it becomes Rs 1,500, he explained.

When BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao was the Chief Minister, farmers were able to get Rs 9, 000 to Rs 11, 000 per quintal of cotton. The farmers have complained that there were irregularities in weighing the produce as well, Harish Rao stated.

He alleged that it was because of the negligent attitude of the concerned Ministers and the government that the farmers were suffering. The State government should give Rs 500 bonus per quintal to cotton farmers forthwith.

Steps should be taken to ensure that cotton was bought through e-National Agricultural Market at MSP. At CCI centres, cotton was purchased from middlemen instead of farmers. The district Collector or a concerned officer should monitor the cotton purchases regularly, Harish Rao demanded.

The Congress government, which boasted of working for the welfare of farmers, cheated them by failing to waive the crop loans, by not delivering the promises of extending Rs 15,000 Rythu Bharosa to farmers, including tenant farmers and Rs 12,000 to agriculture labourers, he complained.

Chilli farmers, who were able to get Rs 20,000 to Rs 23,000 per quintal last year, were not able to get even Rs 13,000 per quintal this time. But the government failed to address the issue. The three Ministers — Bhatti Vikramarka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy — were busy in gaining dominance over each other.

The government, which promised a bonus of Rs 500 to all types of paddy, later limited it to fine variety. About four lakh tonnes of fine variety paddy was produced in Khammam district but only 19,000 tonnes paddy was produced so far and none of the farmers paid bonus, Harish Rao said.

He said that middlemen from Andhra Pradesh were buying paddy in villages in the district at throwaway prices. Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the government would buy 90 lakh tonnes but the officials said only 70 lakh tonnes would be procured. It means there was no coordination among officials and Ministers, he added.