Two farmers die amid delays at paddy procurement centres in Telangana

Two farmers lost their lives at paddy procurement centres in Telangana on Sunday, one in Mahabubabad due to a lightning strike and another in Rangareddy, reportedly from sunstroke. Both had been waiting for days to have their stocks procured amid delays.

Hyderabad: Two farmers died at different paddy procurement centres in Mahabubabad and Rangareddy districts on Sunday. While one farmer died due to lightning strike, the other is believed to have died due to sunstroke.

At Sudanapally village in Mahabubabad, 40-year-old farmer Neelam Venkanna collapsed in the paddy procurement centre after being struck by lightning in the evening.

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Venkanna was hearing and speech impaired by birth. He had worked hard and cultivated paddy in one-and-a-half acres and carried the stocks to the procurement centre. However, due to the delay in procurement, he was waiting for his turn at the centre, according to reports.

As there was a sudden downpour, Venkanna along with other farmers tried to cover the paddy stocks with tarpaulin covers at the procurement centre.

After lightning struck, he collapsed and was immediately shifted to a local hospital where doctors announced that he was brought dead, reports said.

In a similar incident, a tenant farmer M Gouraiah and his wife Venkatamma were waiting for their paddy stocks to be procured at Raipol IKP centre in Ibrahimpatnam constituency, Rangareddy district for the last four days.

As officials pointed out the moisture content in the stocks, Gouraiah and his wife were drying the stocks at the IKP centre. They used to arrive at the procurement centre in the morning and dry their stocks and leave in the evening.

However on Sunday evening, Gouraiah suddenly collapsed on the heaps of paddy at the centre. Locals believed that he could have died due to sunstroke, reports said.

At a procurement centre in Husnabad, Siddipet district, paddy and maize stocks got soaked due to the sudden downpour. The farmers have charged that since the past fortnight they have been making rounds to the procurement centre but officials were delaying the procurement, citing different reasons.

Since the last few days, farmers in different districts have been staging protests over the inordinate delay in procurement.