Telangana Jana Samiti president M. Kodandaram has expressed concern over the forcible eviction of large number of farmers from their lands in the name of land record updation programme launched by the government.
Agriculture sector has plunged into a crisis as a result of the government’s policies favouring the private sector and coupled with this was the eviction of farmers from their lands. “The severity of the issue will come out only after June 20, the date set for completion of the land record updation programme. Farmers are likely to be pushed to the brink after the deadline,” he said.
Mr. Kodandaram was participating in a round table organised by Rythu Swarajya Vedika, an NGO working for the farmers cause, here on Friday to mark the release of study report on the continuing suicide by farmers in different parts of the State prepared jointly by the Vedika and students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The TJS president lamented that serious lapses took place in the land record rectification programme as was evident from the complaints that kept pouring in while vast extents of assignment and other lands were being acquired by local leaders fudging the records.
The government was not ready to accept the suggestions given by the voluntary organisations working for farmers’ cause and was instead depending on the feedback from the private sector. Farmers had been pushed to losses during the last four years as the cost of cultivation increased significantly while the prices of the commodities in the open market dropped significantly. This was in turn resulting in suicide by farmers.
He called upon the farmers’ bodies and other organisations engaged in their cause to explore alternatives and mobilise farmers and other stakeholders to mount pressure on the government. CPI (M) senior leader Sarampally Malla Reddy criticised Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for allegedly adopting “vindictive attitude” towards tenant farmers in that they were denied any kind of assistance from the government. The investment support scheme and the insurance cover promised to them were part of the “vote catching exercise” undertaken by the government. Vedika representatives Ravi Kanneganti and Kiran Vissa expressed concern over the denial of benefits to tenant farmers. who constituted a major chunk of the real cultivators.