Relations between TRS and BJP deteriorated over paddy purchase
Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won Huzurabad by-election result In Telangana, relations between the national party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government have deteriorated over the issue of paddy procurement.
On 7 November, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao held a press conference in which he waved copies of various letters from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Food and Public Distribution and said that farmers should not sow paddy as the Center is now growing paddy in the Rabi season. Wasn’t buying. He also blamed BJP president Bandi Sanjay for calling farmers to sow paddy during this rabi season and saying that the BJP would buy paddy from the TRS government. There were tense moments during Mr Sanjay’s visit to paddy procurement centers in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts, where he said that “the government will have to buy paddy first and the center will have to supply the agreed quantity of rice through FCI”, which he said Was. Not happening
However, Mr. Rao said after a meeting of the TRS Legislature on November 15, where it was decided that ‘Mahadharna’ to be held on November 18, that the FCI had not yet specified that it would lift the quantity of rice from Kharif procurement. During the dharna on Thursday, he said that out of more than 6,600 paddy procurement centers, around 5,000 were already open and so far around 10 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured from farmers. He also wanted clarity from the Center on whether it would purchase milled rice from paddy produced in the rabi season this year as Mr. Sanjay has been asking farmers to cultivate paddy in the rabi season.
In a letter to the Civil Supplies Department of Telangana on 8 September, the FCI had said: “Due to the surplus rice and its limited consumption in the country, the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD-GoI) has made it clear that the FCI KMS Will not accept boiled rice from 2021-22.
The DFPD wrote to the Telangana government on 30 September stipulating the conditions for lifting of Custom Milled Rice (CMR) in the middle of the procurement process related to the 2020-21 rabi season. It has specifically asked the FCI to take a written undertaking from Telangana that it will not supply boiled rice in future. For the 2020-21 rabi season, FCI was to lift 50 lakh tonnes, 24 lakh tonnes was taken and conditions were laid for lifting another 20 lakh tonnes.
As Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy said, production of raw rice is not economical in Telangana due to bad weather during Rabi season. “Processing raw rice from paddy produced in Rabi is not possible as the percentage of broken rice in CMR would be 30-50% against CMR production of 67% for raw rice and 68% for boiled by the Centre. Rice,” he said. When this happens, the BJP’s state unit is protesting demanding expedited procurement of kharif paddy, saying it is slow and inefficient and asking farmers to sow paddy again this season, As a result, confusion is being created in agriculture. On the other hand, Civil Supplies Minister G. Kamalakar said that till November 16, around 4500 procurement centers are open and more than 9 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured.
Read also | We are ready to buy raw rice as agreed: G. Kishan Reddy
The state government wants clarity on the raw rice the FCI plans to lift from Telangana in a year so that it can advise its farmers on growing paddy as the crop needs time to diversify. While the TRS is trying to portray the BJP as a betrayer of the interests of Telangana, the BJP envisions a bright future for itself.
chandrashekhar.bhalki@thehindu.co.in
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