Telangana Rashtra Samiti president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday announced his resolve to constitute a special fund for mitigating the problems faced by farmers.
ADVERTISEMENT
The special fund, amounting to ₹500 crore, would be operated by the State level farmers’ federation. This would in turn consist of representatives from district level farmers bodies. so that the members were familiar with the ground level situation.
Once constituted, the State level body would hold negotiations with buyers/traders to fix remunerative prices for agricultural produce without the involvement of middlemen/brokers.
“Farmers will be given freedom to sell their produce anywhere across the country if they are not satisfied with the price offered by traders/buyers. This will be an effort to ensure that farmers secure more than minimum support price announced for them from time to time,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Massive gathering
He was addressing a massive gathering at Warangal on the eve of the party’s 17th foundation day on Thursday. He lamented that while people in other professions had associations to represent their problems, farmers lacked such a body that could bring their problems to the notice of the concerned.
“KCR is determined to organise the farmers,” he said amid loud cheer from the gathering.
Thursday saw Warangal, Hanamkonda and Kazipet turning into a sea of humanity for the meeting.
The Chief Minister outlined various initiatives of his government to alleviate the problems faced by different sections of society, farmers in particular. The government had resolved problems pertaining to power supply within six months of taking over the reins and had initiated projects like Mission Bhagiratha and Kakatiya to ensure adequate water for them.
“The Congress is the cause of the sufferings of the Telangana farmers. They are now securing stay on the project works as they are apprehensive of their political survival if the State develops on its own,” he said.
The TRS was resolved to carry out the struggle for ensuring that the State witnessed accelerated development on all fronts as this was the only solution to the seven-decade struggle the people had faced during the united Andhra Pradesh.
“I will continue my struggle against the forces inimical to Telangana, come what may,” he said.