Telangana: Government has turned us into beggars, allege oustees of various projects

HYDERABAD:  The oustees of the industrial park being established in Chandanvelly village of Shabad mandal on the outskirts of the city on Thursday alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who had promised of 3 acres to landless Dalits, was forcibly acquiring 1,600 acres of mostly Dalit farmers in the name of Special Economic Zones and harassing them instead.

The oustees under various projects in the State poured out their woes at a roundtable meeting organised by ‘Rythu Sanghala Ikya ‘ at Somajiguda on Thursday. Farmers from Yacharam, where the State government is building the Pharma City, alleged that their lands were being forcibly acquired by the State government, turning them into beggars. Farmers whose lands have been acquired for the Mid Manair Project alleged that in spite of running from pillar to post, there was no one to listen to their grievances.

Speaking at the event, S Jaipal Reddy, convener of Rythu Sanghala Ikya Vedika, countered the claim of the Chief Minister that the lives of farmers in the State were brighter, by saying that their lives had turned miserable.

Jaipal Reddy questioned how representatives of farmers from 26 States could certify the condition of farmers in Telangana by sitting in a five-star hotel. Upender Reddy, a farmer from Nalgonda district, wondered whether the Chief Minister has ever given permission to farmers’ unions to discuss their problems. “Due to the non-implementation of the crop loan waiver in one go as promised by the Chief Minister before the 2018 elections, bankers have been declaring farmers as defaulters,” Upender Reddy alleged, adding that farmers were dying by suicide as they were unable to repay the loans taken from private moneylenders at higher rate of interest.

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh in-charge Sridhar Reddy questioned why the CM was playing with the lives of farmers without giving input subsidy, and also questioned why the Centre’s Fasal Bima Yojna crop insurance scheme was not being implemented in the State. The forum has decided to chalk out an action plan to wage a movement through concerted efforts against the State government’s policies, which it said, were against the interests of the farmers.