KARIMNAGAR/ KAMAREDDY: At a time when farmers are struggling to sell their paddy produce, the officials of a local procurement centre at Reddipalli village in Veenavanka mandal reportedly refused to procure the produce from ryots since “they did not vote for the TRS candidate in the Huzurabad byelection”.
In light of this, scores of farmers belonging to Reddipalli village staged a protest here on Monday. They also staged a rasta roko and a dharna on the main road. During the stir, the protesters stated that the procurement centre officials refused to procure their paddy claiming that it contained dust. The protesters also mentioned that the officials were taking revenge for “not voting for Gellu Srinivas Yadav in the Huzurabad bypoll”.
Alleging that the market committee officials were not following rules, though the State government has clearly stated that it would purchase paddy containing dust too, the farmers demanded that the authorities take stern action against errant officials. On learning about the protest, police rushed to the spot, pacified the farmers and made them call off the stir.
Farmers protest at Birkur too
Scores of ryots staged a protest in front of the Birkur Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) office on Monday, alleging that they were facing major financial loss due to the negligence of officials in the procurement process.
After an hour-long protest, the PACS staffers promised the ryots that they would look into the matter immediately. Speaking to Express, Aalugu Gangaram, a farmer belonging to Birkur village, said that though he sold 772 bags of paddy, the officials removed 2.5 kg from every quintal citing it as dust. He also said that the society office bearers and employees were working hand-in-hand with rice millers, leaving the ryots in dire straits.