Former Minister and senior BJP leader Eatala Rajender has accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of putting the entire agriculture into a ‘quandary’ with his “whimsical policies, lack of foresight and negligence” in Telangana and “deceiving the farmers” in the process.
“KCR is building gigantic irrigation projects, giving Rythu Bandhu payments, constructed farmers’ centres and so on, but seems to be venting his anger on Centre on the farmers confusing them with his utterances and actions,” he said, at a press conference on Wednesday at the party office.
“Farmers are aware the Chief Minister is speaking and acting behaving irresponsibly as the Centre has made it clear any amount of raw rice will be purchased this season too. But, despite having sufficient water and power supply, paddy cultivation has plummeted this year only because of KCR’s order to stop paddy cultivation by 20 lakh acres. Why are projects being built if not for the benefit of the farmers and what will happen when 1 crore acres are cultivated?,” he questioned.
The Centre pays for the entire process including labour, gunny bags, interest amounts, and transport, with the state only being an intermediary and not spending any money. There are no new investments in rice mills which have been restricted to custom milling. Rice millers are demanding subsidy for power and for acquiring new machinery plus land but government has not responded, leading to delay in the milling capacity, he explained.
So much so that last year’s paddy itself has not reached FCI because the conversion for rice has not happened exposing the TRS government. “The situation is being used to push the blame onto the Centre or farmers themselves by KCR. He is seeking to vitiate the atmosphere and divide people to hide his failures,” he charged.
The state government is not depending on the Centre for welfare schemes including pensions therefore farmers could be supported using the same tax payers’ money. Broken rice can be sold to liquor companies and for poultry feed though for a slightly less price. The government can discuss the same with the Centre to find a way out by sharing the subsidy cost. The BJP leader urged KCR not to push farmers to the limit by purchasing the entire produce this season and desist from politicising the issue.
