Congress MP and TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy has charged Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao with failing to come to the rescue of farmers who suffered losses due to the unseasonal rains while making tall claims at press conferences.
In an open letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy said the CM was taking credit for the increased production due to good rains and hardwork of the farmers but he could not even ensure minimum support price. The CM is not even mentioning the losses in thousands of acres due to unseasonal rains. He reminded the CM of his assurance that every grain will be bought by the government and even announcement of ₹ 30,000 crore for the same but officials on the ground were denying the farmers the remunerative price for silly reasons. Is the CM not aware of farmers burning the produce, he asked?
Referring to the unseasonal rains, he said paddy was damaged in combined Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Rangareddy, Nalgonda and combined Warangal districts. Rains damaged the harvested paddy to the tune of 1500 quintals while mango groves in 150 acres too suffered. In Jogipet market 2000 quintals was damaged. But the government was nowhere to be seen to assure the farmers.
Turmeric farmers in Nizamabad suffered with the falling prices. Turmeric was selling at ₹ 7,000 per quintal before the lockdown while now it is just ₹ 4,500. However, in neighbouring Maharashtra it was selling at ₹ 7,500 per quintal. Cotton farmers were suffering as the ginning mills were closed, he said and demanded the CM that they be opened like in Gujarat and Maharashtra with some restrictions.
He also alleged government’s failure in estimating the need for gunny bags when they were aware of the increased cultivation and good crop. Even the tarpaulines could not be secured to save paddy from rains and the CM was now shifting the blame on the Collectors. Sweet lime farmers suffered heavily this year apart from the mango farmers due to fall in prices and the government should extend financial support to save them.