Will suspend officials, shut down seed shops if even 1 kg paddy seed sold in district: Siddipet collector
“The shops will be closed as long as I am the Collector here. I won’t let them open. This is my order and there will not be any government order for this. Agriculture officers will be suspended if I notice any paddy cultivation in their area,” the collector.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 26 Oct 2021 8:13 PM IST
Hyderabad: After warning that he will not let farmers sow paddy nor seed shop sell seeds even if the Supreme Court orders so, Siddipet collector Venkatrami Reddy, in a video, said officials and seed sellers will be suspended and licences of shops invoked if even one kg of paddy seed is sold in the district.
"The shops will be closed as long as I am the Collector here. I won't let them open. This is my order and there will not be any government order for this. Agriculture officers will be suspended if I notice any paddy cultivation in their area," the collector said in the video.
After the video surfaced, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy tweeted, "Siddipet collector threatens to seize seed shops that sell paddy seeds will not let them open even if they get orders from Supreme Court. He threatens to suspend officers too. Is the collector 'SUPREME' than the Supreme Court? I demand @TelanganaCMO to take immediate action."
These warnings come in the wake of the government's repeated appeals to farmers to stop paddy cultivation. Mr. Revanth said the government does not want to procure paddy hence it is telling farmers not to grow it. "Why spend lakhs of crores on irrigation projects when there is no opportunity to cultivate rice?," the TPC chief tweeted.
Meanwhile, Congress worker Konagala Mahesh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against the collector for disrespecting the higher courts of the country.
