Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should take a leaf out of his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao’s book to help farmers, YSR Congress Rythu Vibhagam (farmers’ wing) chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy said here on Thursday.
Addressing media at the party’s office, he said Mr. Naidu was claiming that agriculture had contributed to 34.4% to the State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) but was not helping the farmers in any way.
Mr. Rao announced that he would waive agricultural loans to the tune of ₹1 lakh to each farmer and fulfilled it.
Mr. Naidu promised waiver of the entire crop loan and even Gold Loan but had not been able to do it.
Uninterrupted power
Though Telangana was a power-deficit State, farmers were being given uninterrupted supply for nine hours during day.
In the power-surplus AP, the Chief Minister was unable to supply for seven hours, Mr. Nagi Reddy alleged.
Telangana Chief Minister promised 24-hour power and Mr. Reddy said he was sure that it would be fulfilled shortly.
‘Rythyu Bandhu’
The Telangana government as part of its Rythyu Bandhu programme announced ₹8,000 per acre every year to purchase inputs before the season.
Such a scheme was needed for the A.P. farmer too, he said.
YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that he would pay each farmer ₹12,000 per annum in a scheme similar to the Rythyu Bandhu at the party plenary, he said.
While Telangana was going ahead, Andhra Pradesh was going back unable to fulfil the promises.
Irrigation projects
Even with regard to the irrigation projects, Andhra Pradesh was lagging. While Telangana was forging ahead with 22,000 CuM of concrete per day at the Kaleswaram project, Andhra Pradesh was struggling to do 3,500 CuM in the prestigious Polavaram project, he said.
Not a single crop was getting remunerative prices and though ₹500 crore had been earmarked for market intervention nothing was being done, he alleged.
