Telangana to purchase paddy that Centre refused to buy: MLC Kavitha

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 13 (ANI): Telangana government has decided to procure paddy from farmers from the state's budget said Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Member of Legislative Council (MLC), Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Wednesday.
Her statement comes after the Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday sat on a protest in Delhi against the BJP-led Union government over the paddy procurement policy.
Alleging that the Centre "did not pay heed" to the issue, Kavitha said that a "bold decision" has been made by the Chief Minister.
"Telangana produces over 40 per cent of India's paddy. That is why we are called the rice bowl of India. Since the production is in that high quantity, we would need the help and cooperation from the central government. To make sure that the central government takes notice of this issue, we gave a dharna in Delhi," she said.
Slamming the Centre, she said, "But unfortunately, the corporate-friendly and anti-farmer government that is at the Centre today has not given any heed to our request."
"So we have taken a decision, that from the state's budget, the state government itself will procure all the paddy from the farmers. This is a bold decision made by the Chief Minister," she added.
Kavitha, an MLC from Kamareddy and Nizamabad, urged the Opposition to "build a pressure" on the ruling BJP at the Centre "to make sure that they are cooperating with the government who are producing more paddy."
However, the Centre on Monday said the procurement in Telangana under the central pool has increased tremendously over the last five to six years.
Meanwhile, K Chandrashekar Rao said on Tuesday that the state government has decided to purchase paddy from farmers within three to four days. He requested all the farmers in the state to not sell their crops at a rate lesser than the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The Telangana government has been demanding from the Centre to procure the entire paddy stock from the State. Last year, a delegation of Ministers from the state met union Ministers to press for the paddy procurement from the state. (ANI)