BRS senior leader and Siddipet MLA T. Harish Rao on Friday demanded that the State government initiate urgent steps to address the grievances of farmers and ensure a support price of ₹7,520 per quintal of cotton in the State.
He was speaking to the media after visiting the market yard in Khammam. Rajya Sabha member Vaddiraju Ravichandra, former minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, the BRS district president and MLC Tata Madhu and others accompanied him.
Mr Rao accused the Congress government of failing to fulfil the promises made in its ‘Warangal Declaration’. The cotton farmers are struggling to get even the Minimum Support Price (MSP) due to the apathy of the Congress dispensation, he charged.
“The promised bonus has turned into a bogus promise,” he said, adding that the cotton prices have failed to cross ₹6,500 per quintal as per the market yard data.
The support price for cotton should be ₹7,500 per quintal, he insisted, deploring that cotton farmers were being forced to sell their produce at ₹6,500 per quintal due to middlemen exploitation.
He further pointed out that chilli farmers are being compelled to sell their produce at less than ₹13,000 per quintal as against ₹23,000 per quintal they received last year.
The CCI procurement centre be immediately set up in Khammam market and a support price of ₹7,520 per quintal be ensured for cotton, he demanded.
Published – November 22, 2024 08:14 pm IST