Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders on Monday protested the proposed payment of nominal compensation as part of weather-based crop insurance, alleging that it would deal a further blow to farmers who were already in distress due to the absence of an enumeration exercise of crop loss in mandals and unpaid input subsidy since 2018.
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There was high drama in both Anantapur and Puttaparthi where the TDP leaders gathered in large numbers to submit a memorandum to the respective Collectors as part of their ‘Chalo Collectorate’ programme. Former Minister and Polit Bureau member Kalava Srinivasulu was stopped at several places on his way to the Collectorate in Anantapur, while former Ministers Paritala Sunitha and Palle Raghunatha Reddy got into arguments with police after being held up, with Mr. Raghunatha Reddy eventually climbing over barricades to make his way to the Collector’s office.
Tension prevailed in Anantapur where the police, led by DSP A. Srinivasulu, tried their best to stop the TDP leaders from proceeding towards the Collectorate. In the end, a handful of the party members were allowed to meet the Collector, that too under police escort. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Payyavula Keshav, who led several protesters from Uravakonda to Anantapur, was stopped at five places along his journey, he said.
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“The State Government has taken away the right to question the non-payment of insurance as farmers are not allowed to pay even a single rupee as premium, which would have given them the right to question inadequate payout under weather-based crop insurance,” Mr. Keshav said at a press conference at his house.
He played an old video clip purportedly showing Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy declaring in the Assembly that the input subsidy for 2018-19 would be paid immediately. “The payment is pending even today,” Mr. Keshav alleged.
The PAC Chairman also questioned the State government over the non-payment of subsidies for sprinklers and drip-irrigation pipes since 2019.
Mr. Srinivasulu submitted a memorandum to Collector Nagalakshmi Selvarajan in Anantapur, while former Ministers Paritala Sunitha and Palle Raghunatha Reddy along with TDP leader Paritala Sriram handed over a memorandum to Sri Sathya Sai Collector P. Basant Kumar in Puttaparthi.
Mr. Srinivasulu hit out at the State government over ‘utter confusion’ in the payment of insurance amounts as it was not properly recorded in the e-crop booking, which resulted in many farmers getting disqualified from getting the Prime Minister’s Phasal Bima Yojana.