Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appeared to placate farmers as he devoted a good part of his half-hour speech at a public meeting in Adilabad town on Tuesday to talk on farmers and their welfare.
Though the Chief Minister mentioned many of his programmes that aimed at benefiting farmers, he did not mention the earlier crop loan scheme which had gone awry and became the main reason for the farming community being unhappy with the government.
Hits out
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, who addressed a well-attended meeting after inspecting the ongoing works related with Chanaka-Korata barrage across Penganga river near Korata village in Jainad mandal of Adilabad district, dwelt upon the alleged lapses committed by the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party in the State and the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre in order to drive home his point of TRS government being a benefactor of farmers. He said it was his government, the first in Telangana, which initiatied many steps towards helping out the farmers.
Listing out the efforts of his government, Mr. Rao said the land records purification, grant of ₹ 8,000 per acre cultivated during kharif and rabi and stabilising ayacuts of many pending projects went a long way in addressing farmer issues. “The financial aid cheques would be personally disbursed by your MPs, ministers and MLAs at your doorstep between the last week of April and May-end,” he assured.
Blames Centre
The Chief Minister declared that he stood by his criticism of the Congress and the BJP ignoring farmers’ benefit at the Centre since the country got Independence and held the parties responsible for the crisis in the farming sector. “Why have you not increased the price (minimum support price) for agriculture produce during your rule,” he asked.
“Farmers have lost patience,” he said cautioning the Union government. “Our MPs are going to question you on your lapses,” he added.
Two reservoirs
Mr. Rao assured the farmers of Adilabad and Boath Assembly constituencies that the Chanaka-Korata barrage will be completed by June-July end. He sanctioned two reservoirs — at Pippalkuti in Tamsi mandal at a cost of ₹ 315 crore and at Gomuthri in the same mandal at a cost of ₹ 210 crore — that would stabilise the designed ayacut of 50,000 acres under the Lower Penganga Project of which the barrage is a part, he added.
The Chief Minister also spoke about how Kaleshwaram project was going to irrigate one crore acres of land in the State.
Finance Minister Eatela Rajender, Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna, Housing Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy, Adilabad MP G. Nagesh, Rajya Sabha MP K. Keshav Rao MLAs G. Vittal Reddy (Mudhole), A. Rekha Naik (Khanapur), N. Diwakar Reddy (Mancherial), Koneru Konappa (Sirpur) and Rathod Bapu Rao (Boath) also attended.
