Transport Minister Botcha Satyanarayana has described the ‘padayatra' launched by Telugu Desam President N. Chandrababu Naidu to highlight the problems of farmers as nothing but a ‘political stunt'.
Addressing a media conference here on Wednesday, he said that the farmers would never forget his indifference to the agriculture sector and his statements terming ‘agriculture as a waste' during his nine-year tenure as Chief Minister. He recalled that the foodgrain production in the State during 2001-02 recorded 160 lakh tonnes, which was the highest in the State since its formation. The very next year it had declined to 106 lakh tonnes.
He alleged that the then Telugu Desam Government had not done anything to secure Central assistance to the farmers of the State, who were in distress. This was despite the fact that the TDP was giving outside support to the NDA Government at the Centre. He wondered as to what had prevented Mr. Naidu in using his influence with the NDA Government to secure sops to the farmers.
On the contrary, immediately after taking over as Chief Minister in 2004, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had written off about Rs.1,400-crore arrears in power supply that were payable by the farmers during the preceding four years. The Congress Government has been giving free power to about 27 lakh agricultural pump sets in the State since then.
Assistance
Mr. Satyanarayana said that the Congress Government in the State had convinced the UPA Government at the Centre to release assistance to farmers of 17 districts in the State under the ‘Vidarbha package' while the total number of districts in the country selected under the package was a mere 32. The interest on agricultural loans, which was to the tune of Rs.2,000 crore, was waived under the package. He recalled that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy increased by a mere Rs.65 from Rs.500 during the NDA rule. The MSP has now been raised to Rs.1,080 and efforts were being made to increase it further. There had been no increase in the price of urea, DAP, potash and other fertilisers during the last seven years. These measures had resulted in the agriculture production increasing to around 240 lakh tonnes. He called upon Mr. Naidu to go for introspection before levelling charges against the Congress Government.
