Hyderabad, May 25 (IANS) Telangana BJP leaders on Monday slammed the Congress government in the state for what they called gross failure in procuring food grains from farmers.
The party leaders led by state president N. Ramchander Rao on Monday launched three day programme titled ‘Rythu Gosa – BJP Bharosa’ (Farmers’ distress, BJP’s reassurance).
They visited procurement centres in Vikarabad and Medak and interacted with farmers.
During a visit to Parigi Agricultural Procurement Centre, they interacted with farmers. They alleged that the state has continuously betrayed the Telangana farming community.
The BJP leaders claimed that today the agricultural sector in the state is facing a severe crisis.
“Farmers, who toiled for six months to grow their crops, are now forced to endure the miserable situation of waiting in queues for weeks at procurement centres just to sell their produce. Due to the Congress government’s negligence, lack of minimum advance planning, and gross failure in collecting grains on time, the procurement process for paddy and maize has become completely chaotic across Telangana today,” said Ramchander Rao.
After interaction with farmers in Kulakcherla, Vikarabad district, he said the BJP delegation comprising MLAs, MLCs, and MPs from Telangana are visiting procurement centres to stand in solidarity with the farmers and to understand, firsthand at the ground level, the difficulties they are currently facing.
He claimed that the State president of the BJP Kisan Morcha had met with the State Chief Secretary and issued a clear warning that farmers would suffer severe losses if proper arrangements were not made at the procurement centres. Despite this, the Congress government remained in a deep slumber and failed to respond in any manner.
“Across Telangana, heaps of harvested grain have piled up at the procurement centers. A distressing situation has arisen where farmers are forced to wait for ten days on end, anxiously wondering when the trucks will arrive and when their produce will finally be purchased. Due to a lack of tarpaulins, gunny bags, and basic infrastructure, the grain brought by the farmers remains unsold, leaving them in a state of deep distress,” Ramchander Rao said.
He claimed that the moment government machinery learnt that BJP MLAs, MPs, and MLCs would be visiting the procurement centres today, it suddenly sprang into action. He said farmers informed them that as early as 4 a.m. gunny bags were rushed in on tractors, and immense pressure was exerted upon them to hurriedly fill the bags with grain and dispatch them to the rice mills.
“If this task could be accomplished today, why was it not possible to do so over all these days,” he asked.
He alleged that even now, heaps of grain continue to lie unattended at the procurement centres.
The BJP leaders personally inquired about the difficulties faced by farmers and the ground realities of why the purchases are not happening systematically. Due to shortages of tarpaulins, gunny bags, and lorries at the purchase centres, coupled with the failure to weigh the produce on time, farmers are facing severe hardships.
BJP floor leader in Assembly, Alleti Maheswar Reddy, MPs Eatala Rajender, Raghunandan Rao, K. Vishweshwar Reddy and other leaders were included in the delegation.
–IANS
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