Govt. vows to fight for fair deal to farmers

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 8. The State Government has taken a serious view of the stand taken by the Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution, Mr. Shanthakumar, that the State Government was forcing the FCI to buy paddy from farmers at a high rate inconsistent with the Minimum Support Price announced by the Centre.

Urging the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to intervene in the matter it has decided to step up pressure on the Centre.

Describing the statement of Mr. Shanthakumar as ``irresponsible and inconsistent with the ground reality'' the Minister for Civil Supplies, Dr.N. Janardhan Reddy, here on Friday said the attitude of the Centre was baffling as farmers were not even getting the MSP at market yards.

Talking to presspersons, he said the Chief Minister, Mr.N. Chandrababu Naidu, had repeatedly been pleading with the Centre to apply the same yardstick as in Punjab here too. Yet the response was negative. Mr. Naidu had visited New Delhi and held discussions with officials and the Union Minister on October 17 and 28 and November 23 and 27 to implement the MSP.

A Cabinet Sub-Committee was appointed here to review the progress every day. For the procurement of maize, the Government had appealed to the FCI to release Rs. 5 crores, but the latter released only Rs. 2 crores in two instalments forcing the State Government to pump in the rest of the money.

Dr. Janardhan Reddy said that the Centre had procured one crore tonnes in Punjab. Here the FCI was playing havoc with ulterior motives and not helping the farmers secure the MSP, he said. The Centre had declared the MTU 1001 variety as 'A' grade only after ascertaining through analysis the samples taken from all over the State.

Yet, district FCI officials were seeking recourse to rejecting the rice as ``A'' grade making the farmers lose heavily, he said. He said the MSP was fixed by the Centre and it was its duty to ensure the price to farmers. Unless the FCI entered the market in a big way at least at this juncture, there would be no benefit to farmers, he said.

The TDP Government which had come to power on the slogan of ``self-esteem'' would not take things lying down and any injustice to farmers would not be tolerated, he warned.

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Section  : Southern States
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