Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

Irate farmers set fire to paddy

— Photo: A.V.G. Prasad

Burning issue:A farmer is distressed over the glut in paddy, while others burn the produce on the Tadepalligudem-Nidadavole State Highway near Nawabpalem in West Godavari district on Wednesday.

ELURU: Agitated farmers from a cluster of five villages held up traffic on the Tadepalligudem-Nidadavole State Highway near Nawabpalem and on the Kolkata-Chennai National Highway-5 near Kaikaram on Wednesday under the banner of the Andhra Pradesh Rytu Sangham (APRS). The protesters placed the produce on the highway near Nawabpalem and burnt it.

The growers were upset over the problem of storage, non-compliance of minimum support price by millers, shortage of gunny bags and the government's ‘poor' market intervention initiatives.

Constrained

The growers were constrained to dump the produce outside the IKP centres and in the fields for want of takers.

According to B. Balaram, president of the district unit of the APRS, nearly 40 truckloads of the produce remained outside the premises of a paddy procurement centre at Nawabpale

m. When the IKP centre transported seven truckloads to a rice mill on Tuesday with the transport expenses borne by farmers, the miller reportedly refused to buy it. The protesters at Kaikaram relented only after officials despatched 5,000 gunny bags in a truck to the IKP centre concerned.

M.V. Suryanarayana Raju of the Andhra Pradesh Rytu Karyacharana Samithi said at least 2.5 crore bags were required for procurement of 12 lakh tonnes at the rate of 25 bags per tonne.

The appointment of special officers and the warnings of Civil Supplies Minister D. Sridhar Babu to the millers over enforcement of the MSP seems to have made no impact at the ground level.

In Khammam district, farmers, irked over the alleged tardy pace of paddy procurement, reportedly detained a team of officials during the Rythu Chaitanya Yatra at Ramachandrapuram in Penuballi mandal.

Express ire

According to sources, farmers expressed their ire at the officials of agriculture, horticulture, Transco, and other allied departments when the latter arrived in the village to conduct a meeting .

The farmers reportedly locked up the mandal agriculture officer and others inside the school building in protest against the alleged failure of the departments concerned to ensure speedy disposal of their paddy.

The agitated farmers took the officials to task when they tried to pacify them.

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