Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy has expressed concern over farmers not having access to their own money kept in bank accounts to invest the same in farming in the kharif.
Addressing a public meeting in Manakondur mandal headquarters on Sunday night, he said the agriculture sector had been in a state of neglect under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. “Farmers had lost three consecutive crops due to official negligence and drought conditions. When they had a significantly better crop in last rabi season, they failed to get remunerative prices for their produce.
Now, their money is locked up in various banks and they are being denied access to cash. This will badly affect the output of kharif season and farmers will suffer irreparable loss,” he said.
However, the TPCC chief announced that the Congress would leave no stone unturned to get justice for the farming community. He threatened that the party would launch massive agitation if farmers suffered losses in kharif owing to the negligent attitude of the BJP and TRS governments. He also slammed the Chief Minister for not responding to the flaws in crop loan waiver scheme which had been pointed out by the Congress on multiple occasions.
Loan waiver
As against the claims of the TRS government of waiving crop loans, he said there were lakhs of farmers whose fourth instalment was yet to be cleared. Further, he said, the Chief Minister did not honour the assurance, given on the floor of the Assembly, on the state government clearing the interest on crop loan waiver dues.
He promised that the Congress would ensure economic empowerment of women by extending financial assistance to women Self-Help Groups and other institutions. By not having a single woman in his Cabinet, KCR had sent a wrong message on women's capabilities and talent. Former MP Ponnam Prabhakar, former legislator Arepalli Mohan, and DCC president K Mruthyunjayam were present.