Lashing out at the State government, BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said that the government had failed to address the plight of the chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh and demanded that compensation be paid to the 4 lakh ryots whose crop had been damaged by the invasive thrips last year.
At a press conference here on Thursday, he said that he had written a letter to the Chief Minister to pay the compensation immediately, as each of the farmers had invested to the tune of ₹1 lakh per acre.
The State government had discontinued the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme and this deprived the farmers of the insurance cover. Moreover, since the State government had introduced a free insurance scheme, paying compensation was now an obligation for it, he said.
Disaster management was the primary responsibility of the State and, as per Article 246 of the Constitution, ‘Agriculture including agricultural eduction and research, protection of crop against pest and prevention of plant diseases,’ is a State subject, he said.
According to him, A.P. and Telangana together contribute to about 60% of the chilli crop in the country, which had an export earning potential of about ₹8,000 crore. Last year, about 80% of the crop was lost and under the State government’s Rythu Bharosa scheme, it was the responsibility of the State to compensate the farmers.
Railway zone
On the newly created South Coast Railway Zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters, he said he had taken up this matter with the authorities concerned, including the Railway Minister in the last Parliament session. “It is under progress and very soon things will move on a faster pace and it will become operational,” he said.
Mr. Narasimha Rao took exception to the comments made by a Minister on the garbage charge issue. “How can a Minister, who is an elected representative, say that if people do not abide by the new garbage collection tax, he would ask the civic body to dump garbage in front of their houses. This shows the intellect level of the elected representatives of the YSR Congress Party,” he said.
Ring nets
On the recent clash between two fishermen communities on the ring net issue, MLC P.V.N. Madhav alleged that because of the apathy of the State and district authorities, the peaceful fabric of the city was torn apart.
“Historically the city of Visakhapatnam was termed as a sleepy fishing village. Fishermen are the natives of this city, but the authorities concerned did not care to address the ring net issue, despite it simmering for the last two years. One constructive deliberation between the communities would have settled the issue,” he said.
He also said that the authorities concerned should compensate the fishermen, whose boats had been destroyed in the clash.
On the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam steel plant, Mr. Madhav said that steps were being initiated to see that no one suffered in the deal.
He lashed out at the State government for not settling the 22A issue. “This is a major issue and people are suffering as they cannot sell or even mortgage their property, notified under 22A,” he said.
Former MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju said that despite the increase in drowning deaths at the beaches in the city, the authorities concerned, including the Tourism Minister, had shown no concern.
He criticised the State government for keeping on hold the inauguration of the Venkateswara temple at Rushikonda, built by the TTD. The temple was completed about six months ago and had since then been awaiting inauguration, as the Chief Minister was unable to give a date. “The TTD should fix a date and go ahead with the opening, whether the Chief Minister comes or not,” he said.
