Seventy farmers committed suicide in 2016 and 2017, said Civil Supplies Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao during the question hour in the Assembly on behalf of Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy on Saturday.
Of the 51 suicides in 2016, Guntur district accounted for 19 and Anantapur 15. Four farmers ended their lives in Prakasam district, three in Kadapa, two each in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari and Kurnool and one each in Krishna and Chittoor districts.
Anantapur had the highest number at 10 in 2017 followed by three in Kadapa, two each in Guntur and Prakasam and one each in Kurnool and West Godavari districts. MLAs Gottipati Ravi Kumar (Addanki) and Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar (Ponnur) said a large number of tenant farmers were committing suicide mainly due to the difficulty in availing themselves of institutional credit, which forced them to borrow from the private money-lenders at exorbitant rates.
Mr. Ravi Kumar cited the non-issuance of loan eligibility cards as the reason for the plight of the tenant farmers.
Mr. Pulla Rao said steps were being taken to issue certificates of cultivation to such tenant farmers under the e-Crop programme. The Ponnur MLA said the payment of ex gratia to farmers who ended their lives was getting inordinately delayed.
Prices of eatables
in theatres
To a short notice question by Kurnool MLA S.V. Mohan Reddy and Visakhapatnam north MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju on the steps taken to control the prices of eatables in the cinema theatres, Mr. Pulla Rao said the Legal Metrology Department was conducting raids at regular intervals as per the Packaged Commodities Rules to ensure that the products were sold at prices not exceeding the MRP.
