HYDERABAD: After waiting for over 20 days for the government to procure his paddy at Nelakondapalli market, a middle-aged farmer attempted suicide by consuming pesticide on Tuesday. The plight of the farmer, Gaddam Lingaiah, sums up the frustration of ryots in the State as the delay in procurement continues. The Covid-19 induced lockdown has once again hit hard the paddy procurement process. The shortage of gunny bags, hamalies, and transport vehicles are prolonging procurement and worsening the situation.
In addition to lockdown-related issues, official apathy and lack of coordination among different arms of the government is also causing delays in the procedure. Incidentally, rice millers, who have to process the paddy before returning it to the government, have excess stock in their limited space and are not accepting additional stocks at some places across the State. At some places, transport vehicles have been waiting for nearly a week to unload the food grains in rice mills.
The long delays in procurement of food grains has been invoking anxiety amongst farmers, who are taking to the streets to protest. On the other hand, the untimely rains are also adding to the woes of farmers.On Monday, farmers of Nampally mandal of Nalgonda district obstructed Collector Prashanth J Patil by staging a protest at Ambedkar Circle, demanding procurement of their paddy.
Protests by farmers in various districts over the issues continued on Tuesday. Farmers’ associations are alleging that they have been forced to sell their produce at less than the MSP. “Farmers are forced to sell paddy at Rs 1,550 against the MSP of Rs 1,880 per quintal,” said T Sagar, the general secretary of Telangana Rythu Sangam.Meanwhile, Civil Supplies Department officials have attributed the delay to the lockdown, which rings hollow as the delay has become an annual ritual. As on Monday, the authorities have procured 42.48 lakh metric tonnes.
“Paddy is arriving in large quantities at procurement centres. In the last 17 days, over 32 lakh metric tonnes of paddy arrived at the centres. On an average, 1.9 to 2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy are accumulating at the centres,” said R Raja Reddy, General Manager (Procurement) of the Civil Supplies Department. He added that the low numbers of rice mills in districts, which were not increased in proportion to the increment of paddy, were also slowing down the procedure.
(With inputs from districts)