HYDERABAD: A day after the State Cabinet decided to procure the entire stock of Rabi paddy from farmers, a Congress delegation led by TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday sought Governor Tamilisai Soudnararajan’s intervention to ensure that farmers who had undersold their crop be compensated for the loss they had suffered.
Describing the decision of the State Cabinet as erratic, the Congress delegation said that it was solely because of the delay in taking a decision to procure the Rabi crop that farmers had resorted to distress sale to private players.
The Congress leaders argued that the Cabinet decision was a clear example of how Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s ad-hoc and erratic the governance had become. “We appeal to you to intervene and initiate corrective actions, as the custodian of the Indian Constitution, against the State government and protect the interests of the people of Telangana,” the leaders urged. They pointed out that KCR had created an atmosphere of uncertainty deliberately during which time 35 to 40 per cent of the farmers had sold their crop at a price far below the MSP to private players.
The delegation put the losses suffered by farmers at Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore. Later speaking to the media, Revanth demanded that the State government provide a compensation of Rs 15,000 per acre to farmers who were discouraged from sowing paddy crop in the rabi season. “We demand that the Centre launch a CBI inquiry into the alleged nexus between KCR and millers,” he said.
Among other issues raised by Congress included power tariff hike, drug menace, unemployment, promotion of private universities at the cost of State-run universities and importantly the abolition of G O 111. “It is absolutely dictatorial to unilaterally abolish the GO 111, which may destroy the two historical lakes providing freshwater to City, besides endangering the flora and fauna in the vicinity,” the leaders emphasised in their representation to the Governor.