No paddy purchase for rabi, allege tenant farmers

Eluru: Tenant farmers staged a dharna at the Paddy Purchase Centre in Kothuru village of Pedapadu mandal on Sunday. The tenant farmers rallied to the Paddy Purchase Centre in Kothuru village in the morning, led by Andhra Pradesh Koulu Rythu Sangham (APKRS) West Godavari unit and started the dharna.

The APKRS District committee General Secretary, K Srinivas addressing the dharna demanded that the Government purchase paddy from tenant farmers. He alleged that the officials had not been purchasing paddy from tenant farmers. He stated heaps of Rabi paddy remained in the fields and 80 percent of the produce was from tenant farmers. Earlier, the government purchased paddy from the tenant farmers after the issuance of loan-eligibility cards and revenue officials certificates.

However, for the last 15 days, the government was not purchasing the paddy from the farmers. He alleged that the civil supplies officials were saying that the government had directed them to stop the purchase of paddy from tenant farmers. Due to this, the tenant farmers were incurring huge losses.

He demanded that the officials purchase the paddy from tenant farmers and credit the cash to their bank accounts. Otherwise, the APKRS would intensify the agitation, he warned. APKRS leaders Avala Mohan Rao, B Vishnu, P Reddiyya, Ch Veera Prasad, K Lakshmana Rao, V Siva and A Paramaiah led the dharna.