While the farm bills passed by Parliament triggered nation-wide protests steered by the Opposition parties and farmers, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday asserted that paddy would be purchased at the village level.

At a high-level review meeting on paddy procurement, KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said that the state government would purchase the paddy and cotton directly from the farmers. He directed the officials concerned to purchase the entire paddy in the state by setting up 6,000 purchasing centres and ensure that every grain of paddy is purchased and farmers do not face any problem.

He stated that paddy with less than 17 per cent moisture would be purchased by the state government at Rs 1,888 per quintal MSP for grade A variety and Rs 1,868 per quintal MSP for the B grade variety.

The CM instructed the Agriculture, Marketing and Civil Supplies Department officials asked officials to prepare a report on how much paddy would be available and prepare a purchasing plan accordingly. He directed officials to ensure that the farmers get their money on the sale of paddy immediately along with the bank guarantees.

The union government had recently passed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill were passed in Parliament amid protests from the Opposition.