Govt will directly procure paddy from farmers, assures Minister Venkata Nageswara Rao

BHIMAVARAM(West Godavari): Minister for Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao has said the paddy farmers need not worry about the sale of rice and the government would directly procure the paddy from the farmers.

He said there is no role of rice millers or the brokers in the paddy procurement and the government would directly purchase the paddy from the farmers.

Speaking to the media in Bhimavaram on Wednesday, Minister Nageswara Rao said the farmers have to register their names in the Rythu Bharosa Kendras and hand over the rice. He made it clear the farmers need not go to the rice mills even if the rice millers ask them to come to the mills.

He said the government had sealed two rice mills in West Godavari district because the rice millers asked the farmers to come to their rice mills.

The Minister has warned that the rice mills will be closed if the millers ask the paddy farmers to visit their mills.

Referring to the boiled rice, the Minister said the Central government had agreed to collect five lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice from Andhra Pradesh.

Replying to a question, Nageswara Rao said the State government had purchased 34 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from the farmers in the kharif season and the government is ready to pay the balance amount of Rs 33 crore to the farmers.

He said there are complaints of mismatching the bank accounts of farmers and it will be rectified very soon. On the other hand, the opposition parties and the farmers’ associations are demanding the government to procure paddy from the farmers as the paddy crop is damaged due to the heavy rains in some parts of the State. Untimely rains have damaged the paddy crop and inundated the farmlands causing panic among the farmers.