Telangana government will stage a dharna in the national capital on April 11 to mark a protest against the Centre's paddy procurement policy.
Telangana Government elected representatives, TRS party MPs, MLCs, MLAs and elected representatives of urban and rural local bodies will join the protest against the Union Government, the TRS party informed today.
The Telangana Government will sit on a day-long dharna on April 11 in Delhi to stage a protest against the Union government's discriminatory paddy procurement policy, which is impacting 61 lakh farmers and their families. The venue of for the protest will be Telangana Bhavan which is being set up for the massive protest in Delhi.
TRS MLC K Kavitha, who is the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, said in the national capital that if the Centre did not pay attention to the situation of the farmers of the state, they would be forced to agitate on the streets of Delhi.
"The Central government is not procuring paddy from the farmers of Telangana. The BJP government at the Centre has now refused to purchase, flouting the promise. In protest, about 61 lakh farmers of the state have taken to the streets", said K Kavitha.
Interestingly, Telangana and Puducherry Governor, Tamilisai Soundararajan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Wednesday. However, the details of the meeting are not yet known.
On March 24, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal assured farmers of Telangana that there is absolutely no discrimination among the farmers from different states and added that some politicians in Telangana are misleading the farmers in the state. This statement comes from the Union Minister in light of the recent meeting with the delegation of Telangana Ministers and officials who had come to the national capital to press the demand that the Food Corporation of India should procure the entire quantity of paddy produced in the State.
Speaking to reporters today outside the Parliament premises, Goyal said, "The Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to the welfare of farmers and has consistently ensured that all the farmers of the country get the benefit of several policies that we are introducing from time to time. The government procures rice from all over the country without any discrimination whatsoever."
"In the last few years, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement from Telangana of rice has increased significantly and the total MSP value paid to farmers has increased from 3,391 crore in 2014-15 to 26,610 crore in current marketing season 2021. So in six years, it has gone up by about seven times. The same policy which applies to Punjab applies to Telangana and all other states," he said.
He said, "The farmers of Telangana can rest assured that there is absolutely no discrimination among the farmers from different states. Some politicians in Telangana are misleading the farmers in the state. I request the Telangana government to stop this."
Telangana Government has been demanding the Centre to procure the entire paddy produced in the State. Last year, a delegation of Ministers from the State, had even met union Ministers to make a clear announcement on paddy procurement, including the quantity. However, there has been no amicable solution obtained to the problem yet.
( With inputs from ANI )
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