Incompetent Congress Govt dried crops in 100 days, says KCR, demands Rs 25,000 compensation per acre

SURYAPET: “It is not some rocket science to understand, that the incompetent, clueless, and inefficient Congress Government has created the drought that almost all districts in the State are facing. It was not natural. Revanth Reddy does not know how to manage power, drinking water, and irrigation,” said BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao.

Addressing media at G Jagadish Reddy’s camp office in Suryapet on Sunday after visiting dried paddy fields in Jangaon, Yadadri, and Suryapet under the ‘Polam Baata’ programme by the BRS KCR lambasted the 100-day Congress Government for its failure to save the farmers by providing irrigation, quality power, and financial input under Rytu Bandh.

Also Read: KCR polam baata: Farmers pour out woes, vows to fight for water, Rythu Bandhu, loan waiver

Calling upon BRS cadres to submit memorandums at district collectorates, and MLAs at the Secretariat on April 2, 2024, demanding a Rs 500 bonus per quintal of paddy, the BRS president said that everyone would sit on ‘Deeksha’ on April 6 in front of all paddy procurement centres and raise slogans.

KCR said that farmers believed the Congress Government and invested in cultivation but lost everything as the Government failed to provide irrigation. He said that the BRS Government could stabilise the agriculture sector in eight years.

“The BRS took certain steps and implemented them. We provided irrigation by different means. We gave timely financial help through Rytu Bandhu, gave 24-hour quality power supply, established 7,600 procurement centres, and gave security through Rytu Bima,” KCR recalled.

Blaming the Congress Government for bringing back the nightmare that farmers endured before 2014, he said that the BRS Government put Telangana on the national map by achieving 3 crore tons of paddy production and stood next to Punjab.

“I never thought that in just 100 days 200 farmers committed suicide, 15 lakh acres dried, around 3.5 lakh acres in Nalgonda alone. Why it is happening? The UNO praised Mission Bhagiratha. Why there is a drinking water shortage, why is the GHMC sending bills to citizens while 20,000 litres of potable water is free? Why I am seeing water tankers, pots, motors, generators, and inverters again in Telangana,” KCR wanted to know.

KCR reminded everyone that the BRS Government had spent Rs 35,000 to create one of the best power systems in the country. “Sheer incompetence, inability, and lack of understanding of Congress brought back power outages in Hyderabad which we transformed as ‘Power Island City’ for the sake of IT companies and its supporting ecology,” KCR pointed out.

He said that the BRS Government employed technocrats in place of IAS officers in TSTRANSCO and TSGENCO to create a system that supported round-the-clock quality power supply in the State by linking the State power to the national grid.

“I have not opened my mouth for four months, but now that it is 100 days and there is no trace of Rytu Bandhu and the Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver, I was forced to speak out,” he said. He pointed out that that around 14 TMC of water was available in the Nagarjuna Sagar Project but the Government dried the crops in lakhs of acres. Blaming the Congress for handing over management of the Nagarjuna Sagar project to the KRMB, KCR said that now the Telangana Government could not venture on the project to lift gates and save farmers like the BRS Government did.

Asking the State Government to wake up from deep slumber, the former Chief Minister said that the Government must undertake a review of agriculture, irrigation, and drinking water to rectify the problems. Explaining how systems were interlinked, he said that running Mission Bhagiratha would require round-the-clock power at least for 23 hours in a go. He said that the Rs 1400 crore Sunkisala project built to lift water from Nagarjuna Sagar was neglected by the Congress Government.

“The BRS Government distributed Rs 500 crore when untimely rains and hail storms damaged crops. The Chief Minister with his cheap mentality blames us. He demanded enumeration of crop damage and distribution of Rs 25,000 per acre as compensation. We will gherao your MLAs till you do this. We are 39 MLAs strong even if you try to snatch our MLAs.

Explaining how the beleaguered Kaleshwaram project could have been used to save the crops, KCR said that still, the Government could utilise 17 TMC available in Singur and the Government could use 6,000 cusecs of water being wasted at Medigadda. “Water could have been lifted from KLIP in December. Showing seepage as a major damage the Government wasted valuable time,” he said.

“Where are you sleeping, Mr. CM? There is only a 1.8 percent vote difference. We will chase you, we will not let you sleep,” he said while calling upon farmers not to get disheartened and resort to suicide.