Harish Rao urges farmers not to sell paddy below MSP in distress, speaks to Siddipet additional collector

SIDDIPET: Former Minister and senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T Harish Rao has urged the farmers not to panic and sell paddy below Rs 2203, the minimum support price (MSP), and assured them that he would convince the authorities concerned to start paddy procurement without further delay.

Harish Rao visited the paddy procurement centre at Mettu Bandala of Pedda Kodur village in Siddipet on Sunday and expressed dismay over the inordinate delay in the purchase of paddy from the farmers who have been waiting there for the past fortnight.

He then immediately called the additional collector, revenue divisional officer, and civil supplies district manager and convinced them to take up procurement immediately.

“We have been waiting here for the past fortnight. The paddy got drenched in rain the other day. We never faced such a problem during K Chandrashekar Rao’s tenure,” Ragunavva a farmer told Harish Rao at the centre.

Another farmer Narayana said that there was no water in the canals and he was forced to depend on borewells. “The motors are burning because of low-quality power. There is no round-the-clock power. We don’t know when the power comes and goes,” he told Harish Rao.

Wishing that KCR returned soon, Mohan Reddy a farmer said that there was no Rytu Bandhu financial assistance like before in the Congress Government. “All we have is a power problem and water problem. Revant Reddy said he would give Rs 500 bnus per quintal and Rs 2 lakh loan waiver. He cheated farmers,” Mohan Reddy rued.