Farmers robbed of paddy worth Rs 1,600 crore: BJP leader

Hyderabad: Telangana BJLP leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy alleged a scandal to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore in the procurement of paddy and collection of ‘U-tax’.

Addressing media here on Tuesday, he said that the work of farmers is being looted as the millers are collecting excess paddy from farmers, citing the presence of high moisture content and chaff. “10 to 15 per cent per quintal is being looted this way. That comes to about Rs 1,600 crore considering the total paddy procurement quantity in the State. Whose accounts all the robbed money is going,” he asked. He said that farmers have toiled hard from ploughing to the harvest but are not able to sell their paddy and alleged that farmers are subjected to untold hardships.

He alleged that in the name of ‘U-tax’, Rs 500 crore has changed hands. Out of that, Rs 100 crore was sent to Delhi by State Agriculture minister Uttam Kumar Reddy to foot the election funding of the Congress party. He demanded CM Revanth Reddy to convene an all-party meeting on the issue.