HYDERABAD: Activists of BJP and its allied organisations held demonstrations at various district collectorates across the State on Thursday, against the State government’s ‘indifferent attitude’ in procuring paddy from the farmers this Kharif season, despite the Centre agreeing in August that it would procure 60 lakh tonnes of paddy from the State.
The activists alleged that the TRS government was trying to put the blame on the Centre instead of speeding-up procurement at paddy procurement centres. They claimed that procurement at the centres was not going on in a full-fledged manner yet. BJP workers reached the Rangareddy district collectorate in Hyderabad in large numbers, demanding the State government to procure paddy immediately. They held a road blockade and raised slogans against the TRS government. Some activists who tried to barge into the collectorate were taken into custody by the police personnel stationed there.
Mild tension prevailed in Sircilla, where BJP workers raised slogans against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. TRS workers also reached there and got into an argument with the BJP workers, which snowballed into a physical altercation. Police personnel resorted to lathi-charge to dispel the crowds and took some activists into custody. Similar scenes were witnessed at Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri and Jagtial district collectorates, when BJP workers tried to enter the premises, only to be prevented and taken into custody by the police.
Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar referred to the BJP’s dharnas as a gimmick and said the State government had planned to start 6,663 procurement centres across the State, of which 3,500 were already set up. Rythu Bandhu Samithi president MLC P Rajeshwar Rao advised the BJP leaders to protest at Central government offices and in New Delhi instead, with a demand to the Centre to procure paddy from the State in the coming Rabi season, instead of protesting at the collectorates.
Protests just a gimmick, says Gangula
Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar referred to the BJP’s dharnas as a gimmick and said the State government planned to start 6,663 procurement centres across the State, of which 3,500 were already set up