PNS|Guntur
Telugu Desam party senior leader and former minister Nakka Ananda Babu lamented that the paddy formers were not being offered MSP for their produce and the mediator were fleecing them.
Nakka Ananda Babu along with other leaders visited some of the paddy fields where the paddy farmers dried produce to minimize the moisture content. The former minister saw the paddy produced at a field at Vemuru village and interacted with the farmers.
He inquired whether they were being offered the MSP for their paddy produce. The farmers told him that their paddy produce was not being purchased at MSP and the mediators were fleecing them. Later talking to the media, Ananda Babu said that the farming sector in AP has crumbled during the YSRCP regime and the farmers are not getting MSP for their paddy produce.
“The Rythu Bharosa Kendras have become Rythu Dhaga Kendras. The farmers in the Krishna West Delta are facing difficulty to sell their paddy produce at remunerative price. The mediators and rice millers are fleecing the paddy farmers. The RBKs are not purchasing paddy produce from the farmers in Vemuru constituency,” the former minister slammed.
The government assured to purchase the paddy produce from the farmers at their field itself but that is not being done now, he said, regretting that the farmers were left in lurch as they did not find any agency who would purchase their paddy produce.
Adding woes to the farmers, the weather office forecasted rains during the next four days. The farmers are now worrying on how to save their paddy produce from getting drenched in rain. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced setting up price stabilization when he was in Opposition but he did not do that after coming to power, he pointed out.
The Chief Minister and ministers are making contradictory statements on the purchase of paddy from the farmers, he flayed.“The government announced to purchase paddy produce at Rs 1530 per quintal but the farmers are being offered Rs 1100 at the ground level. The government officials connived with the rice millers and mediators in fleecing the paddy farmers, Ananda Babu alleged. Though the farmers have got bumper yields in the kharif, they are not happy now since they are unable to sell their produce at MSP,” the TDP leader lamented.
