Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has justified constitution of farmers coordination committees by the government with TRS workers though it was not supposed to be a political appointment.
He had already informed the Assembly so, Mr. Rao told the regional conference of the committees from 13 districts at the agricultural university here on Sunday. The TRS government had formed the committees more or less on the lines of the Adarsha Rythu (model farmer) system introduced by the Congress government in combined Andhra Pradesh in 2007 to facilitate effective extension of reach to the farming community.
Asking members of the committees not to give scope for criticism against them, Mr. Rao advised them to work with commitment to achieve the goal of improving the lives of farmers. They had a sacred duty to perform in the backdrop of suicides by farmers.
Issue of auto-starters
Mr. Rao asked the committees to own the responsibility of removing auto-starters to agricultural pump sets in villages as there was no dearth of electricity.
The committees should ensure that the farmers used groundwater judiciously and did not resort to wastage by excessive use of power.
Disclosing that the government would allot in the coming budget ₹ 12,000 crore for the investment support scheme for farmers, which envisaged payment of ₹8,000 per acre annually, Mr. Rao said the government aimed to empower farmers to create a wealth of ₹1.25 lakh crore to the agriculture sector.
‘No scrapping them’
But, the government’s efforts alone were not enough. Hence, the need for farmers committees was felt to unite the community and organise its members to supplement government support.
During the interaction session with delegates of the conference, the Chief Minister denied move to scrap the committees as long as the TRS was in power.
He felicitated a few farmers who offered to donate their lands to the committees for construction of buildings. Mr. Rao moved a resolution requesting the Centre to link agriculture with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.
Resolution
A similar resolution would be adopted at the coming budget session of the Assembly which would be followed up by TRS MPs raising the demand in Parliament.
Ministers T. Harish Rao and Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and agriculture secretary C. Parthasarathi also spoke.
