Hyderabad: Unseasonal torrential rains that lashed most parts of Telangana on Monday and Tuesday brought temporary relief from the extreme heatwave but caused significant distress to farmers by soaking the paddy they had brought to government procurement centres.
Worst Affected Districts
Officials estimate that Siddipet was the worst affected district, with 2,976 tonnes of paddy getting drenched in rainwater. Peddapalli and Kamareddy districts followed, with 1,100 metric tonnes and 1,065 metric tonnes of soaked paddy, respectively.
Government Response
The state government claimed that the total rain-soaked paddy quantity was 10,215 metric tonnes across 18 districts. Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government has procured this entire quantity of rain-soaked paddy from farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), and the money has been deposited into the farmers' bank accounts.
Civil Supplies Commissioner Stephen Ravindra confirmed that nearly Rs 25 crore has already been paid to farmers towards MSP for the rain-soaked paddy. “We have shifted this rain-drenched paddy to rice mills that have boiled rice milling capacity,” he said.
Farmers' Groups Raise Concerns
However, various farmers' welfare associations claimed that much more rain-soaked paddy remains to be purchased from farmers. They argued that the 10,000-odd tonnes of rain-soaked paddy cited by the government would be present in just two to three mandals.
Rythu Swarajya Vedika state committee member Kanneganti Ravi said: “Why is the government counting only the paddy brought to procurement centres? What about the paddy and maize that got soaked due to rains at places stored by farmers other than procurement centres? There are lakhs of tonnes of paddy, both dry and rain-soaked, that are yet to be procured.”
Political Reactions
BRS working president KT Rama Rao and BJP state president N Ramchander Rao demanded that the state government not only speed up procurement but also procure every grain soaked by the rain at MSP. In response, Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government has already announced that paddy, whether dry or rain-soaked, would be purchased at MSP. “The BJP MPs should convince the Centre to procure through FCI the entire quantities of paddy being purchased by the state government from farmers,” Uttam added.
