Hyderabad: Former minister T Harish Rao alleged that the Congress govt was systematically undermining Telangana’s farming community through inconsistent policies and anti-farmer decisions. He condemned Thursday’s state cabinet’s decision to limit the Paddy procurement to quotas fixed by the Centre, which is nothing but betryal of farmers. He questioned why Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who once criticized governments for failing to procure crops, is now citing the Centre as an excuse to avoid procurement responsibilities.“If the govt refuses to purchase farmers’ produce, what are farmers expected to do with their harvested crop?” he asked, adding that imposing procurement limits in the name of central quotas would leave farmers at the mercy of private traders and market forces, he said in a statement.Harish criticized the government’s decision to restrict crop bonus eligibility to only seven fine varieties of paddy, calling it an attempt to dictate cultivation choices to farmers. He said farmers who trusted govt advice and shifted to crops such as maize, sorghum, sunflower and Bengal gram are already facing severe losses.The BRS deputy floor leader said that after reducing the scope of crop bonus payments during the recent agriculture department review meeting, the govt has now effectively withdrawn from paddy procurement by introducing restrictions under the guise of a “digital cabinet” decision.He said that only a fraction of sunflower production was procured, leaving large quantities unsold. Similarly, Bengal gram farmers were forced to sell their produce far below the Minimum Support Price due to the absence of govt procurement. Sorghum farmers, he said, were also suffering losses because procurement centres were not established despite the existence of a notified MSP.He warned that imposing similar restrictions on paddy procurement would push Telangana’s farming community into deeper distress.The BRS leader demanded that the govt to immediately release the pending Rythu Bharosa dues from the previous three installments along with assistance for the current Kharif season. He stated that a total of ₹16,545 crore remains pending and urged the government to deposit the amount directly into farmers’ bank accounts by June 30 at the proposed Madhira public meeting.ends/
