New Delhi: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Kalvakuntla Kavitha slammed the Centre for reneging on its promise to buy paddy from the Telangana farmers and said that the government should not again create a situation of confrontation by refusing to purchase paddy.
“Procure every grain of paddy from Telangana farmers,” daughter of CM K Chandrashekar Rao told the Centre.
Speaking to news agency ANI in the national capital on Thursday, Kavitha said, “Paddy procurement is nil from Telangana. We demand the Centre’s support for Telangana farmers. Food Corporation of India doesn’t have a proper procurement policy. We request FCI to release a yearly calendar so that states can direct farmers to sow crops accordingly and that there should be uniform procurement.”
MLC Kavitha said that if the Centre did not pay heed to the farmers’ situation in Telangana, they would be forced to stage protests on the streets of Delhi.
“The Central government is not procuring paddy from the farmers of Telangana. The BJP government at the Centre has now refused to purchase, flouting the promise. In protest, about 61 lakh farmers of the state have taken to the streets,” she said.
It is to be noted that Telangana and Puducherry Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Wednesday. The details of the meeting, however, have not been revealed yet.
Notably, on March 24, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal had assured the farmers of the southern state that there is no discrimination among the other states, adding that some politicians in Telangana are misleading the farmers there.
This statement came in the wake of a recent meeting with the delegation of Telangana ministers who had visited Delhi to press the FCI to procure the entire quantity of paddy produced in the state.
Speaking to ANI reporters outside the Parliament premises on Thursday, Goyal said, “The Central Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to the welfare of farmers and has consistently ensured that all the farmers of the country get the benefit of several policies that we are introducing from time to time. The government procures rice from all over the country without any discrimination whatsoever.”
“In the last few years, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement from Telangana of rice has increased significantly and the total MSP value paid to farmers has increased from 3,391 crore in 2014-15 to 26,610 crore in current marketing season 2021. So, in six years, it has gone up by about seven times. The same policy which applies to Punjab applies to Telangana and all other states,” he added.
Goyal further said, “The farmers of Telangana can rest assured that there is absolutely no discrimination among the farmers from different states. Some politicians in Telangana are misleading the farmers in the state. I request the Telangana government to stop this.”
Notably, the Telangana government has been demanding the Centre to procure the entire paddy produced in the southern state.
Last year, a delegation of Telangana ministers had even met Union Ministers to make a clear announcement on paddy procurement, including its quantity.
However, there has been no amicable solution to the issue yet.