180 farmers died by suicide since Congress took over: Harish Rao

JANGAON: Former Minister and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao is moved by the plight of paddy farmers in Chintabai Tanda of Devaruppala mandal in Jangaon district whose crops have dried up and demanded Rs 25,000 as compensation per acre.

Farmers told Harish Rao that they were unable to irrigate their lands because there was no water in the canals. With the groundwater levels hitting rock bottom, farmers were also unable to tap water from borewells. In three months Shivashankar sunk six borewells, Sathyamma four, Narsimha three, Janku nine borewells, Lakshmi six bores, and Vijaya four borewells but all of them failed.

“I am moved by their plight. Congress Government’s failure to manage irrigation led to drought in the State. Farmers are getting indebted by sinking hundreds of borewells,” Harish Rao pointed out. He said that there was ample water in Godavari River but the Government had no clue on how to bring that water to the rescue of the farmers.

“None of the assurances given to farmers in the six guarantees are implemented. Farmers and farm labour have been cheated by Revanth Reddy’s Government,” he said. He recalled that the Government promised that it would waive the Rs 2 lakh crop loan by December 9,2023 and Rs 15,000 under Rytu Bandhu.

“Congress promised implementation of Rytu Bandhu for tenant farmers. Nothing happened. Over 180 farmers died by suicide. They were distraught as the BRS Government took care of irrigation and financial input. Farmers reaped two crops per year,” Harish Rao observed.

Harish Rao explained to farmers that former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao who himself was a farmer took care of farmers as he was aware of their problems. He said that KCR ensured that farmers received quality seed, timely fertiliser, irrigation, and free round-the-clock power.

“Standing crops in 20 lakh acres across the State dried up. Thousands of acres of crops were damaged due to hail storms and unseasonal rains. The Chief Minister who was busy in admitting BRS leaders to Congress has no time to visit the farms or the farmers affected,” he said.

Warning the Government that the BRS would soon call for the ‘Chalo Secretariat’ with farmers to highlight the plight of the farmers, Harish Rao said that the Government must immediately release a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre affected, and release bonus of Rs 500 per quintal of paddy to save the farmers.