Harish Rao flays Centre on rice procurement issue

BJP interested in only targeting the TRS, says Minister

Finance and Health Minister T. Harish Rao has alleged that the BJP government at the Centre has been targeting the TRS government in the State and failed to keep the promise it made.

“The Central Ministers promised to buy raw rice, but now they are not keeping their word. Rice stocks are piling up in mills and godowns. Union Minister Piyush Goyal is asking States to cultivate paddy, but at the same time Centre is not buying the raw rice which is already in the State. This is nothing but double standards. The people and farmers would teach them a lesson,” said Mr. Harish Rao while speaking to reporters at Medak on Thursday, adding that the BJP government has cut a sorry figure and should apologise to the farmers.

Stating that the farmers of Telangana would also teach a lesson to the BJP, the Minister said that it was the responsibility of the Centre to buy paddy from Telangana as per Food Corporation of India Act. He said that the State government has been incurring a huge loss to bear the cost of broken rice to save the farmers from becoming debt-burdened.

“We have purchased the total paddy produced in the State from farmers and got ready to incur the loss of broken rice and interest cost. Even then, the Centre is not coming forward. Mr. Piyush Goyal was silent on raw rice procurement. You want only Telangana votes but not the raw rice as assured in the past,” said Mr. Harish Rao and wondered why the Centre is targeting the farmers of Telangana.

The Minister dared the BJP leaders in the State, including the Union Minister G Kishan Reddy to clarify their stand on procurement of raw rice.

Mr. Harish Rao has assured to construct a bridge at Doopsingh tanda in Haveli Ghanpur mandal of Medak district where a culvert was washed away due to heavy floods.

Mr. Harish Rao along with Lok Sabha member K. Prabhakar Reddy, MLA M. Padma Devender Reddy, Collector S. Harish and others visited the tanda and interacted with locals. He has also examined the damage.