Activists of the Congress Party staged a demonstration in front of the Indira Bhavan here on Tuesday demanding justice for paddy growers who had been denied a remunerative price for their produce on the pretext of ‘excess moisture’.
The activists raised slogans demanding a probe by the vigilance department or CB-CID and action against those responsible for denial of MSP to the farmers. The protest was led by party leaders Poola Chandrasekhar (Sarvepalli), Parimala venkateshwarlu (Gudur), Chandanamudi Eswaraiah (Sullurpeta) and Panta srinivasulu reddy (Venkatagiri).
More than 30,000 farmers in the Assembly segments of Sarvepalli, Gudur, Venkatagiri, Sullurpeta, Kovur and Kavali went for cultivation of a new variety of paddy developed by the Rice Research Station here in five lakh acres. At the time of harvest by machines, a total 10 lakh putties was collected and half of it went to the Union government, which fixed the minimum support price for each tonne of paddy at ₹15,600. The rest was purchased by brokers close to the influential MLAs, who denied the farmers ₹5,000 per each putty, they alleged. Each putty comprises 847 kg of paddy.
A thorough inquiry was needed to unearth the injustice to the farmers, they said.
