HYDERABAD: Paddy has been languishing at purchasing centres in most parts of the erstwhile Medak district, as it is not being purchased as soon as farmers bring it to the centres, owing to lack of godowns and lorries.This has forced farmers to stay for 15-20 days at purchasing centres, away from their families.
Farmers say that it is taking 15-20 days for the grain to be transported to rice mills, and that they have to request truck drivers and purchasing centre managers to move the grains. Another grievance of the ryots is that there are no facilities available at the purchasing centres to save their stock from rains. As a result, they themselves have to cover the grains using plastic covers and guard it.
Ashok, a farmer, complains that his produce has been at the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society purchasing centre in Kishtapur village of Kulcharam mandal since 20 days, and he is still waiting for officials to transported it to a rice mill.
The director of the purchasing centre claims that the owner of the rice mill was accepting only thin variety of paddy, and sending back the rest.
Ashok, a farmer, complained that many rice mill owners were saying they had exhausted their quota of purchasing paddy and were asking farmers to go to another rice mill. Medak district civil supply manager K Srinivas said the district was expected to procure 5 lakh tonnes of paddy, of which 2.5 lakh tonnes had been procured.
He acknowledged that there was a shortage of lorries and warehouses. In Siddipet district, the situation is even more dire, as out of an estimated 6 lakh tonnes of paddy to be procured, only 1 lakh tonnes has been purchased.