Dattatreya bats for paddy procurement centres

Hyderabad: Former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya here on Monday demanded that the State government immediately open paddy procurement centres. Addressing the media, he said that farmers would soon bring the paddy produce to market yards soon.

"Unless the State government immediately opens the procurement centres, farmers may not get the minimum support price (MSP) declared by the Centre.

Lack of a sufficient number of procurement centres could lead to the traders and millers taking advantage and procure paddy at lower than MSP rates," he added. Similarly, he said that nearly 40 per cent of the farmers were yet to receive money under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS).

The State government had transferred funds to 60 per cent of the farmers prior to the Lok Sabha elections. However, now funds crunch had led to the State government being unable to make remittances to the remaining 40 per cent of farmers under the RBS, he pointed out.

Similarly, he also demanded the State government to call for an all-party meet to discuss the issues related to the ensuing Zilla Parishad and Mandal Praja Parishad elections.