The Telugu Desam Party State secretary G.S. Ramgopal Reddy launched indefinite hunger strike in front of Pulivendula Tahsildar’s office on Saturday, deploring the inordinate delay in disbursing crop insurance to farmers who lost crops in 2011 and 2012.
Mr. Reddy and partymen took out a rally from Pulivendula bus stand to the Tahsildar office, where TDP MLC S.V. Satish Kumar Reddy inaugurated the hunger strike camp. Mr. Satish Kumar Reddy and Mr. Ramgopal Reddy lamented that the Government was yet to sanction crop insurance amount of Rs. 61.30 crore to Kadapa district.
Groundnut, sunflower and onion crops were damaged in the rabi seasons in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and farmers languished with meagre crop yield, but crop insurance was yet to be disbursed, the TDP leaders said. They accused the insurance officials of looking down upon the distressed farmers of Kadapa district.
As several forms of agitations yielded no result, the hunger strike was launched, they said. Mr. Ramgopal Reddy said he would continue the hunger strike until the crop insurance was disbursed.
