Warangal: Show compassion to farmers, Centre told by Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao

Warangal: The Central government needs to be compassionate towards the farmers' issues, Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao said. The Minister who is part of a delegation that went to Delhi to get an assurance from the Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal spoke to the media on Monday. He said that they were not in Delhi for political mileage but for a written assurance from the Union Minister to increase the Kharif from 60 lakh tonnes of paddy as Telangana is expected to receive 1.3 crore tonnes of paddy. He recalled that farmers cultivated paddy in 62.13 lakh acres.

"We have been trying to get the appointment of Piyush Goyal since Saturday evening. Lok Sabha TRS Floor Leader Nama Nageshwar Rao and his counterpart in the Rajya Sabha K Keshava Rao have been trying to get the appointment of the Union Minister but in vain. The Centre needs to be compassionate in purchasing the paddy from Telangana farmers instead of dealing with it from a political angle," Errabelli said. However, the delegation that included Ministers S Niranjan Reddy, V Prashanth Reddy, G Kamalakar, G Jagadish Reddy and others will wait until we get an appointment, he added.

He said that the Telangana government has been purchasing paddy through 6,952 from farmers. The paddy procured by Monday is tantamount to the Centre's target. But the farmers are yet to harvest paddy in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally, and in erstwhile districts of Khammam, Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda. The harvesting is expected to be completed by January 15, 2022, he added.

Errabelli demanded that the Centre needs to give a written assurance in view of bitter experiences in the past.