HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has announced that it will purchase the entire stock of Rabi paddy from State farmers. Purchasing centres will be opened in the next two to three days for the purpose. The State Cabinet took a decision to this effect during its meeting on Tuesday.
After a prolonged battle with the Central government over the issue of procurement of Rabi paddy, the State government has finally decided to come to the rescue of farmers. As the percentage of broken grain after processing Rabi paddy tends to be high, the Cabinet constituted a four-member committee headed by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to conduct a study on minimising the loss of broken rice which is estimated to be around Rs 3,000 core.
“We are giving crores of rupees in subsidies to the farmers. We have decided to bear the loss of around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore,” Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. “A 100 kg of Kharif paddy would give 67 kg of rice. But 100 kg of Rabi paddy would give only 35 kg of rice. The loss for the remaining 30 kg would be borne by the State government,” he said. He alleged that the Central government, which waived off Rs 10.5 lakh crore loans of industrialists, was unwilling to bear the loss of Rs 3,000 crore of 60 lakh farmers of Telangana.
“We have thoroughly exposed the Central government by organising a dharna in Delhi on Monday,” Rao said. The CM also lashed out at the Centre for asking the State governments to reduce the taxes on petrol and diesel. “It is clear that the Centre will increase fuel prices and pocket money while the States suffer financial losses by decreasing the taxes,” he lamented.