In the unified state of Andhra Pradesh, farmers took to the streets demanding the assured seven hours power supply to the farm sector. Now, it is other way round, the farmers are staging dharna opposing the 24-hour power supply to farmers, said Minister for IT and Municipal Administration K. Taraka Rama Rao.
The Minister said that the farmers were complaining against the 24-hours power supply as it would lead to overdrawal and depletion of the ground water table. “The integrationists, who opposed formation of Telangana state, had claimed that Telangana state would plunge into darkness.
The 24-hour power to the farmers is a fitting reply by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his efficient administration,” he claimed.
Making it viable
Mr. Rama Rao along with Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Karimnagar MP B. Vinod Kumar, ZP Chairperson Tula Uma, Vemulawada legislator Ch. Ramesh Babu, TSCAB chairman K. Ravinder Rao, Collector D. Krishna Bhaskar and others inaugurated the agricultural market committee godown of 5,000 MT capacity constructed at a cost of ₹3 crore and the Agriculture Polytechnic College constructed at a cost of ₹9.6 crore in Saradapur village of Thangallapalli mandal in the district on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rama Rao said that the state government was taking all measures to make agriculture viable and accordingly providing 24-hour power and taken up Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project to provide irrigation sources. The farmers of Telangana state have forgotten ‘bad days’ of the Congress and TDP regimes when the farmers were forced to form queues for fertilizers and seeds, among others and lost their lives due to power supply in the late night hours, he stated.
Assured water
The Congress-ruled Punjab had sent its team to study the crop loan waiver scheme implemented in the state. He said that the face of upland Rajanna-Sircilla district would be transformed with the ongoing irrigation projects which would provide assured source of irrigation to an additional two lakh acres and urged the Agriculture Minister to sanction an agricultural college in the district to take up more research work.
Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy advised the farmers to take up cultivation of vegetables through poly-houses along with other crops to reap riches.
He also highlighted the achievements of the State government, including the ambitious Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, which would transform the Telangana region.
