Khammam: Telangana was the only state in the country to purchase paddy by offering the minimum support price to farmers during the Yasangi season, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said. Although the Central Government was opposed to drafting the acquisition of koeksisters, Prime Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to purchase paddy at the town level, for the benefit of the farmers considering Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Ajay Kumar inaugurated on Tuesday in the town of Kuppenakuntla in Penuballi Mandal and at Lingala in Kallur Mandal in the district. About 3.5 lakh tons of paddy will be obtained in the district during the season. He said the prime minister had a firm commitment to the well-being of the farmers and with his decision more than 6,000 acre procurement centers had been set up across the state. During the past three seasons, the government has acquired every grain paddy produced by farmers by ensuring transportation and quick payments to the family, he recalled.
‘Due to the pro-farmers measures such as free power supply, Rythu Bandhu and better irrigation facilities, the crop cultivation area has reached 1.2 lakh hectares in the state. Telangana is the best place in sourcing paddy for Food Corporation in India. By the next Vaanakalam season, the farmers in the district will be able to have better irrigation facilities with the supply of the waters from the Godavari River to the Palair reservoir through the Sita Rama elevator irrigation scheme, ”he said.
Sathupally MLA S Venkata Veeraiah said during the event that the BJP government at the center has introduced farm laws recommending the government’s advice against obtaining food grains from farmers. But in view of the prosperity of the farmers, the government has decided to purchase paddy this season. In the past season, about 1.60 lakh tons of paddy were obtained in the Sathupally Assembly constituency, he said.
MLC B Lakshminarayana, the chairman of the DCC bank, K Nagabhushaiah, the chairman of the DCMS, R Seshagiri Rao, the supplementary collector N Madhusudhan, the officer for civil supplies, Rajender and others, were there.
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Source: Telangana Today