TDP seeks State’s intervention

 Khammam: It was high time that the State government take a decision to eliminate the middlemen system that had been ripping off the income of subabul and eucalyptus farmers, senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and Sathupalli MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah said.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he said that like sand and mining mafias, subabul wood mafia had also come into existence and was ruling the roost. “When the TDP was in power, the State government directly purchased subabul from farmers. Thereafter, especially since the closure of Sirpur Paper Mills (SPM) and Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT), the scenario totally changed as subabul trade had totally gone into the hands of middlemen,” he said.

Stressing on the need for a dialogue between the Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana governments to protect the interests of subabul farmers, Veeraiah said that it was high time to keep a tab on paper companies’ monopoly on subabul trading. The middlemen, in connivance with the paper mill managements and politicos, were forcing the cultivators to play to their tunes, he added, demanding that the Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited purchase the wood directly from the farmers avoiding middlemen.

He sought the State government to purchase subabul and eucalyptus through market yards like the AP government. Sandra said the TDP would support the subabul farmers’ protest on February 16 if the State government failed to find a solution. It may be mentioned here that Ministers T Harish Rao and Tummala Nageswara Rao would hold a meeting with the ITC management in Hyderabad in the presence of farmers’ leaders.

Referring to the non-payment of wages to labourers under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and delay in Aasara pensions, Veeraiah criticised the government and sought to know why it was happening though Telangana was rich State. 

Why the government which claimed that Telangana was a rich State had not paid wages to labourers under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and what was the reason behind the delay in payment of Aasara pensions, Veeraiah questioned.TDP district president Tulluri Brahmaiah was among other leaders present.