Hyderabad: Increasing pressure on the central government against its paddy procurement policy, the ruling TRS on Friday organized state-wide protests in all the headquarters of the Assembly’s constituency here. Along with farmers, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other elected representatives participated in the Rythu Maha Dharnas organized in their respective constituencies, demanding that the Center make a clear announcement to buy the entire rice yield at Telangana. They also demanded to stop discrimination between the States in the paddy purchases.
Farmers, along with the TRS framework, participated in large numbers to express their support for the demand to the Center to continue with the acquisition of cooked rice produced during the Yasangi (Rabi) season. The protests were held in front of the Collectors, revenue department offices, Tahsildars offices and other places, as well as highways and major junctions. The TRS made it clear that their protests were also against new farm laws that have provisions to stop minimum support prices, provisions to set energy reading meters on agricultural pump sets and others. They drove bull carts and demonstrated with paddy trees as part of the dharna.
Nearly three lakh agitators, including TRS cadres and farmers, called for slogans against the Center and held up posters and joined the leaders in the sit-in to protest the Center’s refusal to remove the entire stock of paddy from the state. . The TRS state leadership constantly monitored the arrangements to make the protests a success. The TRS leaders have already obtained the necessary permits for dharnas from respective district collectors in the wake of the model code of conduct before MLC polls. TRS President and Prime Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao recently called for protests to expose the BJP’s double standards on paddy purchases.
TRS acting president and minister KT Rama Rao led the protests organized in Siricilla while ministers including T Harish Rao, Puvvada Ajay Kumar, A Indrakaran Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, S Niranjan Reddy, G Jagadish Reddy, P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Satyavathi Rathod, V Srinivas Gold, Koppula Eeshwar and others held demonstrations in their respective constituency headquarters as well as the relevant district headquarters. In Hyderabad, TRS leaders led by Ministers Mohd Mahmood Ali and Talasani Srinivas Yadav held the demonstration at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park.
KT Rama Rao said in his speech to the Rythu Maha Dharna at Siricilla before Telangana was formed, farmers stood in long queues for seeds and fertilizers, as well as protests for adequate power supply for raising crops. But the TRS government has managed to provide the necessary support to farmers through, among others, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, uninterrupted power supply and irrigation water supply, which has enabled them to start cultivation with confidence.
“The state government has made a small start in diverting farmers to alternative crops by educating them and explaining the situation. Some farmers have agreed to go for other crops this Yasangi season, but BJP state leaders are creating confusion among the farmers by asking them to grow rice alone, to ensure that they (BJP) let the state government buy it . “It is nothing but evil to play with the lives of many farmers,” he said.
In Siddipet, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said farmers were forced to take to the streets as the union government refused to buy padby from a state for the first time since independence. He explained that production of raw rice was not possible in the State due to the extremely hot weather conditions prevailing during the summer. If the rice produced in the Yasangi season is ground without steaming, the percentage of crushed rice will be very high up to 50 percent, making it completely uneconomical. “We are not afraid that the BJP will label us as anti-national or use central agencies against us,” he said.
The TRS leaders questioned the central government’s double standards on the purchase of the entire paddy crop of Punjab before elections, but refused to provide similar support to the state of Telangana. They demanded that the Center clarify its position on paddy purchases and promised to intensify their protests until there is an assurance in this regard.
Source: Telangana Today