Telangana Govt: No Paddy Procurement Centres To Be Set Up In Summer Season

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has stated that it would not set up paddy procurement centres during the summer crop season in view of the Centre refusing to procure paddy during the summer season, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Saturday.

Though the decision was painful, it became inevitable in view of the Centre's "adamant attitude", an official release quoted him as saying in a meeting with district Collectors.

KCR directed the Collectors to prepare the farmers for crops other than paddy during the summer crop season.

He said the financial assistance to farmers under the state government's 'Rythu Bandhu' investment support scheme would be deposited in eligible farmers' accounts from December 28.

The ongoing battle between the ruling TRS and BJP over paddy procurement and the TRS government attacking the Centre over the issue has been going for quite some time now.

The Chief Minister directed the collectors and agriculture department officials to understand the issue of buying grain at the field level to protect the state farmers from the dangerous policies being followed by the Center.

The meeting was attended by Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other senior government officials.

Meanwhile, the TRS said it would hold protests against the Centre's alleged anti-farmer policies on December 20th. Following two rounds of sit-ins, where one was led by the Chief Minister in Hyderabad last month (November), demanding that the Centre should take paddy produced in the state, the TRS Chief has now asked his party members to up the scale of protest.  There should be a protest staged in every village, KCR said.

Also Read: TRS to Stage Protests in Every Telangana Village Against BJP's Anti-farmer Policies