Will dump excess paddy at India Gate if Centre fails to procure it: TS
Hyderabad: The face-off between Telangana and the BJP government at the Centre over paddy procurement reached a flash-point on Friday with the State declaring that it would dump the entire stock of Vaanakalam paddy procured beyond the targetted 60 lakh tonne, at India Gate if the latter continues with its stubborn attitude.
“We achieved the target procurement on Friday, but the State government will continue to procure paddy till the last grain as promised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. The Centre, however, has not come clear on increasing the target beyond 60 lakh tonnes save for an oral assurance,” the Ministerial delegation that has been camping in New Delhi since Saturday, said.
“We came here on behalf of the farmers of Telangana, but the Centre has treated us very badly. We decided to leave it to their wisdom and continue with the paddy procurement. We will pursue the issue further with the Centre and continue to wait for its written assurance in this regard,” said Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy. Vexed with the Centre’s indecisiveness, Chief Minister and TRS President K Chandrashekhar is learnt to have asked the delegation to return. The future course of action would be decided in the coming days.
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi, Niranjan Reddy said the Centre had ill-treated the delegation which was waiting for approval enhancing paddy procurement target. He condemned the Centre’s discrimination towards the southern States like Telangana. “We are not at the mercy of the union government. Some governments in the past did not respect the federal spirit and ignored States. All such governments faced their downfall and the BJP government should not repeat such mistakes, lest they end up paying a hefty price,” he cautioned.
Niranjan Reddy slammed the Modi government for promising to double the income of farmers, but failing to provide them basic facilities. He pointed out that the country was importing cooking oil at an expenditure of Rs 80,000-90,000 crore per annum. Similarly, there was severe shortage of pulses.
Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar said even after keeping the Ministerial delegation waiting for two days, there was no response or written assurance from the union Minister’s office over enhancing the target for paddy procurement. The State government wrote seven letters to the Centre seeking clearance of stocks from the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI), but there has been no response, he said.
“We warned them about lack of godown space an year in advance as Telangana was recording a bumper crop. We informed them about vacant space in Jaggaiahpet and Bidar in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively besides asking them to transport stocks from Telangana, but in vain. Telangana is ready to supply as much rice as the Centre wants,” Kamalakar added.
Legislative Affairs Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy slammed union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal for giving an assurance to procure the entire paddy crop in the Parliament, but failing to honour his promise. “The union Minister is just delaying the process without giving any clarity on the issue. He must rethink the issue since it is about farmers,” he said.
Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said the BJP leaders were resorting to silly politics over a serious issue like paddy procurement which involves the lives of lakhs of farmers. Chandrashekhar Rao being a farmer himself will not remain silent over the issue if justice is not done them, he added.
TRS Lok Sabha floor leader Nama Nageshwara Rao said the TRS MPs fought relentlessly both in and outside Parliament to convince the Centre to procure the entire paddy crop from Telangana State. He wondered if Telangana was not a part of India or if the Centre had no responsibility towards farmers of the State.
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