The Telangana Telugu Desam Party has urged Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to direct the State Government to declare the entire State as drought-affected and take relief measures accordingly.
The TTDP wanted the Governor to instruct the Government to waive all the loans obtained by farmers with immediate effect and start cattle camps to save the animals which are suffering for want of fodder.
The Government should also take steps to ensure timely payment of wages for workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme besides providing food and shelter to children, the old-aged and needy people who were the worst affected by the prevailing drought conditions, the party leaders said.
A delegation of the TTDP leaders headed by its president L. Ramana and working president A. Revanth Reddy called on Mr. Narasimhan on Friday and submitted a memorandum in this regard. They expressed concern over water levels in the reservoirs that had gone down significantly in 440 mandals and all the areas including the municipal corporations were facing acute water shortage.
Farmers sell cattle
Farmers were compelled to sell their cattle to slaughter houses as they were unable to provide fodder for the animals.
The State Government, on its part, remained indifferent to the plight of the people and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was yet to convene meetings at mandal, district and State levels to review the ongoing drought situation.
They lamented that more than 500 people died due to sun stroke and heat wave so far, but the Government was unmoved to the plight of the suffering families. Senior leaders of the TTDP formed into committees which toured the districts for an on-the-spot assessment of the drought situation and it was found that the situation was “very grave” and the people were distressed. This, in turn, resulted in large-scale migration from villages.
Drought relief funds
The Government’s apathy to the suffering of the farmers and other sections was evident from the fact that it had not spent Rs. 791 crore sanctioned by the Central Government for taking up drought-relief measures.
They wanted the Governor to instruct the Government to complete the pending irrigation projects, extend financial assistance to the victims of sun stroke/heat wave and make arrangements for payment of drought pension to the needy people on war footing.
