Telangana Paddy procurement row: Congress holds rallies, netas submit representations to Collectors

HYDERABAD: In a bid to build pressure on the State government to commence the procurement of paddy, Congress leaders and activists staged a slew of protests, which included submission of representations to Collectors and Janajagaran rallies across several district headquarters, on Thursday. 

In Nagarkurnool district, Congress leaders visited IKP centres and later undertook a Janajagaran rally and submitted a representation to the Collector. This delegation was led by CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Several local leaders took part in this protest. 

In Mancherial, senior leader V Hanumantha Rao led the programme and, along with other leaders, submitted a representation to the Collector. Congress leaders and cadre organised similar protests at various places including Rangareddy and submitted representations to the respective Collectors. 

At Sircilla Collectorate, the leaders held a sit-in protest after taking out a rally. Meanwhile, former TPCC president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, during a virtual meet, alleged that the government has colluded with rice millers and was deliberately delaying the purchase of paddy in the State. He said that the government was pushing farmers to desperate levels so that they sell the paddy to millers at prices lower than MSP. 

MLA D Sridhar Babu alleged that though the State government claimed it would open about 6,500 procurement centres, very few centres have been opened so far. He said that the government has no knowledge of the number of gunny bags required.