After several months of protests over procurement of paddy, the Telangana government has decided to purchase the entire Rabi paddy crop from farmers in the state. Purchasing centres will open across the state over the next few days, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced on Tuesday, April 12. Addressing the media, KCR said, "The Telangana government is already doing a lot for the state's farmers and for their welfare. We will not allow the Union government's decision to ruin the happy environment in villages. The cabinet has taken a decision to purchase the entire rabi paddy,” he said.
The Chief Minister added that a four-member committee headed by the Chief Secretary will look into minimising losses. “How much the state will have to bear and other technicalities will be looked into by a four-member expert committee which will be headed by the Chief Secretary," he said. The state may have to bear losses of up to Rs 3,000 crore because of the decision. The paddy will be procured at Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Chief Minister said.
The Telangana government’s decision comes after months of protests by Telugu Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislators and leaders. On Monday, April 11, Chief Minister KCR, his entire state Cabinet, TRS MPs, state legislators and other party leaders staged a protest in Delhi, demanding that the Union government procure paddy from Telangana like it does from other states. KCR had given a 24-hour deadline to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a decision regarding the same. However, the BJP also staged a protest in Hyderabad on the same day, asking the Chief Minister to procure the paddy himself or quit.
A group of farmers had also staged a protest on Tuesday. They dumped a tractor load of paddy in front of the residence of BJP MP from Nizamabad district, Dharmapuri Aravind. The farmers demanded that the BJP MP fulfil his assurance given to them that the Union government will procure paddy from farmers.
The Telangana government has around 75 lakh tonnes of paddy as stock, which it wants the Union government to buy. The Union government had initially agreed to procure 65 lakh tonnes, but bought only only 45 lakh tonnes of paddy this year.