TRS govt should procure every grain of Vaanakalam paddy, says Congress leader

HYDERABAD: Former MP V Hanumanth Rao of the Congress on Saturday demanded that the state government should procure the entire paddy produced by the farmers in Vaanakalam season and sought to assure the farmers that the Congress will stand by them until the last grain of paddy is procured at Rs 1,960 per quintal of minimum support price (MSP).
Accompanied by senior party leader Asif Pasha, district Congress president E Komaraiah and city party chief B Rajesh, Hanumanth Rao visited the paddy stock points of the farmers in Palakurthi village in Peddapalli district on Saturday.
With hundreds of quintals of paddy lying unprocured, he slept on the heap of paddy as a mark of protest and refused to get up until the officials started procuring the paddy. The Congress members raised slogans against TRS and BJP governments, holding both the parties responsible for leaving the farmers a worried lot.
Hanumanth Rao said lakhs of tonnes of paddy had been brought to the procurement centres by the farmers but the government was intentionally delaying its purchase. “Several heaps of paddy are lying near the procurement centre in Palakurthi village and it has not been procured from the last 23 days,” he said.
Later, local Tahsildar Sadanandam reached the spot and started procurement of paddy after which Hanumanth Rao and party leaders left the place.