WARANGAL: Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Narahari Venugopal Reddy took exception to the claims of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that there will be no drought for next two years.
Mr. Reddy said that of the total 5,550 tanks in Warangal district, 674 tanks did not receive any inflows during recent rains and 1,900 tanks received only 50 per cent of their capacity.
Kharif crop lost
In Kharif season there was drought as there were no rains on time and crops withered away due to a long dry spell. In July and August, rains did not help the farmers. Now the water in current spell of rain would help Rabi crop only to some extent.
“The Chief Minister should stop playing mind game. He should first focus on waiving the remaining 50 per cent of loan and ensure that farmers get fresh loans for farming operations during Rabi,” Mr. Venugopal Reddy said.
Of the Rs. 25,000-crore loan waiver, the State Government had paid only Rs. 9,000 so far and as a result the farmers were being denied fresh loans by the banks. The Government should provide loans, free seeds and other inputs on subsidy and save the farmers from distress.
Assess crop loss
The BJP leader also wanted the State Government to make objective assessment of crop damage at village level and come up with suitable compensation.
“The Central Government is ready to release funds. But the State Government is not submitting the required information,” he pointed out.
Party district unit president A. Ashok Reddy and others were present.
