The leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham demanded that the government should provide Rs.2,000 as pension to farmers, agriculture workers and artisans who were aged 60 years or more.
They asked the government to take steps to ensure remunerative prices for the agricultural products by allocating a special budget. Krishna Delta Project Committee chairman Ch. Sudheer and leaders of various distributory committees demanded the government transfer of the funds collected in the form of water cess to the accounts of irrigation committees and water users' bodies.
Various leaders addressed a round table held here on Sunday when they deplored that lack of repairs to irrigation channels caused a lot of loss to the farmers.
Meanwhile, to press for their demands, the AP Rythu Sangham leaders proposed a 30-hour dharna at the Indira Park in Hyderabad on September 28 and 29.
The leaders appealed to the farmers across the State to participate in the dharna and make it a success.
They opposed the crop holiday, saying that it would not be helpful to farmers in any way but might cause irreparable losses to them.
Rythu Sangham president K. Ramakrishna, general secretary Ravula Venkaiah and others said it was because of the policies initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh as the then Finance Minister, to cut subsidies to farm sector that led to increased costs of cultivation in the country now.
Debt crisis
Consequently, the farmers got into a deeper debt crisis because of failure of crops and lack of support, which inevitable led to suicides, they added.
