BJP cautions TN govt on rising rice price

COIMBATORE: The BJP has accused the DMK government of failing to keep in check the prices of rice by promoting farmers to harvest latest varieties of paddy in the Delta region.

“Rice production, which stood at 20 lakh tonnes before DMK came to power, plunged to 9 lakh tonnes in the Delta region. Also, the farmers are supplied with old varieties of paddy seeds like CO-51, ADT-42, and NLR-4001 instead of the preferred new and smaller ones like Akshaya variety of rice,” said GK Nagaraj, state president of BJP Agricultural Wing, in a statement.

Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the State government, the preferred rice varieties are purchased by traders from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

“Another reason for drop in production is because of the government’s failure to get its due share of Cauvery water. Despite an observation by court that water storage in Mullaiperiyar dam can be increased to 152 feet, the government hasn’t taken any efforts to hold talks with Kerala. Hence, rice production slumped in Madurai, Theni, Dindugul, Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram districts,” Nagaraj added.

Therefore, the BJP urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to look into these issues to bring down price of rice.