HYDERABAD: Making it clear that no paddy procurement centres would be set up for Rabi, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said that the government would not purchase Rabi paddy at all since the Centre has decided not to buy Rabi rice.
Addressing a meeting at Pragathi Bhavan with district Collectors and other top officials, the Chief Minister said that the State government would not buy even a kg of Rabi paddy. “Though it is painful, we took this decision because of the stubborn attitude of the Central government,” Rao said.
He said that it was the responsibility of the district Collectors to protect the farmers from the anti-farmer attitude of the Central government. “The Centre’s decision is ruining the agriculture sector,” Rao felt.
He directed the Collectors to create awareness among farmers and see that they switch over to alternative crops.
The negligent attitude of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which resulted in paddy stocks piling up in godowns, should also be highlighted among the people, Rao said. He wanted the officials to write letters to the Centre against the decisions of the FCI.
Rythu Bandhu From December 28
The Chief Minister, however, said that Rythu Bandhu amounts would be disbursed from December 28 for Rabi crops. The amounts would be deposited in the accounts of farmers within ten days from December 28, he said.
Rao also directed the officials to allot the existing government employees to districts as per the new zonal system and submit a final report to the government within next five days.
He wanted the officials to consider spouse cases while transferring employees. “Both husband and wife should work at one place,” Rao said.
The Chief Minister said that the State government would release funds for the implementation of Dalit Bandhu Scheme. He said that 100 beneficiaries in each Assembly segment would be identified and given funds.
Rao directed the Collectors to take the suggestions of local MLAs and prepare an action plan for identifying the beneficiaries in all the Assembly segments. The State government already announced a pilot project for the entire Huzurabad Assembly constituency and announced Dalit Bandhu implementation in four other mandals in saturation mode.
TRS team leaves for Delhi to seek clarity on Kharif rice target
HYDERABAD: A delegation of TRS leaders, comprising Ministers and MPs, left for New Delhi on Saturday where they plan to meet Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, to seek clarity on the procurement target of Kharif rice.
The TRS delegation is trying to get appointments of the Union Minister and the Prime Minister. Ministers S Niranjan Reddy, G Kamalakar, E Dayakar Rao, G Jagadish Reddy, P Ajay Kumar and Vemula Prasanth Reddy along with TRS MPs are part of the delegation. They said that the Centre failed to give clarity on the Kharif rice target and accused BJP leaders of blindly supporting it while ignoring the plight of the State farmers.