Support price for paddy demanded

Eluru: AP Rythu Sangham has demanded that the state government announce Rs 2,000 support price per 75 kg of paddy apart from opening paddy purchase centres without further delay. The sangham upland district president GV Krishna Rao and secretary K Srinivas spoke at a meeting on paddy support price and purchases at Anne Bhavan here on Saturday.

They said rabi harvest was over by 40 per cent in the district. However, there was no support price for the paddy though its yield was high. The government-declared price of Rs 1327.50 per 75 kg bag of paddy but was not implemented anywhere.

As there was no paddy purchase centres, the farmers have been selling the produce to middlemen at loss. The government should immediately open 285 paddy purchase centres as promised by it. The support price should be hiked to Rs 2,000 per 75 kg of paddy, they demanded.