Former minister and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh on Thursday blamed chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for not purchasing paddy from the farmers. He wrote a letter to the chief minister asking to purchase 100 per cent paddy produce and make early payments to the farmers.
The TDP leader said that the government had failed to give minimum support price to the farmers which why the farmers were committing suicides. He said several farmers in the state have committed suicide this season as the Jagan government failed to procure paddy. In some cases, the government did not make payments, Lokesh said.
Lokesh also wanted the chief minister to help the farming community in the state in real terms rather than speaking highly about Rajanna Rajyam or Rythanna Rajyam. He wanted the chief minister to stop making tall claims about his government’s support to the farmers. He asked the chief minister to meet any farmer in the village and find out the truth.
The farmers did not get the kariff payments from the government, while several farmers’ paddy was not purchased yet, the TDP leader said. He further alleged that the farmers were in second thoughts on going for the rabi season as their investment in the kariff did not come yet.
Lokesh said over 83 lakh tonnes of paddy was produced in 39.15 lakh acres during 2021-`22 kharif season. The Government had purchased just 40.48 lakh tonnes only through 5,312 rythu bharosa kendras till now. Over 42 lakh tonnes of kharif paddy was yet to be purchased from the farmers. How could the rabi purchase centres be opened without completing even fifty percent of kharif paddy purchases?
The TDP MLC expressed concern that even the rabi paddy was not being purchased completely. The Government promised to purchase 50 lakh tonnes but it had stopped this abruptly. It procured 47.32 lakh tonnes paddy during 2020-`21 kharif season but stopped at 40.48 lakh tonnes this year. There was a deficit purchase of over 7 lakh tonnes this year when compared to last year.
Expressing serious concern, Lokesh said over Rs. 1,000 Cr dues were not being paid to the paddy farmers while not completely purchasing even their produce. The support price of Rs. 1,960 per quintal was announced for A-grade and Rs. 1,940 for common variety but the farmers were not getting even this price.