Andhra Pradesh: Ruling, Opposition parties trade charges over ‘plight’ of farmers

Under the first instalment, Rs 7,500 is being provided to each beneficiary farmer with the state government crediting Rs 5,500 Monday. The remaining amount of Rs 2,000 will be disbursed by the Centre under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi by the end of May. Similarly, Rs 4,000 will be credited in October at the time of harvest and another Rs 2,000 will be transferred into the bank accounts of farmers during Sankranti festival in January.

Jagan Mohan Reddy lashed out at Jana Sena chief actor-politician K Pawan Kalyan who has taken up the ‘Rythu Paramarsha Yatra’ to meet debt-ridden farmers or families of farmers who died by suicide. “Pawan Kalyan couldn’t find a single farmer or family who has not got farm benefits or adequate compensation if there was a death. To help farmers, one should have good awareness on agriculture and farmers’ plight, which he has no knowledge of. Why is Pawan not questioning Chandrababu Naidu who did nothing for farmers?” the CM said. Last week, Kalyan had said in Kurnool that he was moved by the plight of debt-ridden farmers.

Attacking the TDP chief, Jagan Mohan Reddy said: “Chandrababu is talking about the plight of farmers, but he should say why he failed to waive off crop loans during his tenure. He did not implement any welfare schemes for the farmers. For the first time in the history of the country, compensation for crop damage in any season was disbursed in the same season… The TDP and its allies do not have any moral right to speak for farmers’ welfare.’’

Countering the chief minister, TDP national general secretary and MLC N Lokesh Naidu said that while the chief minister was hailing the state government, his ministers and YSRCP leaders were facing the heat from people fed up with the administration. “I laud the people for boldly raising their voices against the ruling YSRCP MLAs and ministers during the ongoing mass contact programme. The government had to hold the mass contact programme amid heavy police security because of protests from all sections. The huge public backlash has further exposed the massive anti-government wave in the state,’’ he said.

“People are openly questioning and criticising YSRCP MLAs for not solving their problems. They demanded explanations from the ministers for lack of development in their constituencies,’’ he said. Lokesh released a 17-point questionnaire on the alleged poor condition of farmers during the three-year rule of the YSRCP, and asked the CM to respond to it.

Lokesh asked why the state government was fixing meters on agriculture motors, which, he added, would saddle the farmers with high power bills.

“The CM was not in a position to tell the people what he had done to meet the growing irrigation needs of the farmers. Did his government dig a single minor canal in the past three years? Can the CM answer this question?” he said.

Lokesh sought details of compensation paid to farmers to cover crop losses and damages sustained during cyclones and untimely rains. “Why didn’t farmers get insurance when the government had paid crop insurance premium? At every turn, the YSRCP regime betrayed the farmers,” he added.

In response, the chief minister said so far Rs 23,875 crore has been deposited in farmers’ accounts under the Rythu Bharosa scheme alone and Rs 1,10,093 crore was spent under various other farmer welfare schemes. Unlike the previous government that spent only Rs 782 crore towards zero interest crop loans, Jagan Mohan Reddy said his government has paid Rs 1,282 crore for zero-interest loans initiative.