Telangana farmers use 3-hp motors, not 10 hp; KCR says Revanth Reddy clueless on farming

BURGAMPAHAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday said that the farmers of Telangana use 3hp pump sets in their agricultural holdings and not the 10 hp pump sets as suggested by TPCC president A Revanth Reddy.

Addressing ‘Praja Ashirvada Sabha’ at Burgampahad (Pinapaka Assembly constituency), the Chief Minister recalled the statement of Revanth Reddy that Telangana farmers would require just three hours of power supply to irrigate an acre of land if they could run a 10hp pump set.

“ I do not know if he is simply arrogant or cultivated a farm. The farmers in Telangana irrigate their lands on 3 hp pump sets and the Telangana Government is giving them 24 hours of free, quality power supply. Farmers do not have the 10 hp pump sets that Revath Reddy is talking about, who is going to buy the 10hp pumsets for them? ” KCR said adding that his Government has spent Rs 200 crore to give three-phase power supply to tribal areas. Why the earlier Congress Governments never thought of such measures to save the tribal hamlets from regular power outages, he wanted to know.

Recalling the injustice meted out to the Khammam and Bhadrachalam regions by the earlier Governments, KCR said that the VTPS at Ibrahimpatnam in Vijayawada was supposed to be established in Manuguru. “But the then Governments took it to Andhra region. Later, after Telangana was formed, we constructed a thermal power station in Manuguru,” he said.

Declaring a Rs 1,000 crore embankment strengthening programme for the River Godavari near Bhadrachalam, the Chief Minister said that the problem of frequent floods and inundation of the temple town would be solved forever. He also announced a Dalit Bandhu pilot project for the entire tribal region of Bhadrachalam Kothagudem district if voted to power.

Stressing the need for subsidies in agriculture, the Chief Minister said that the BRS Government had ensured that there was no cess on irrigation, provided round-the-clock free power, and procured every single grin available at the farmer's end through 7,500 procurement centres. He declared that the tribal areas in the State were saved from seasonal waterborne diseases through potable water supply to every doorstep through Mission Bhagiratha.

Assuring that he would pay special attention to tribal areas after winning the ensuing elections, KCR said that through the Dummugudem tail pond, the Government was catering to the drinking water needs of 16 mandals. “We distributed 57,000 acres of podu land to 16,000 families and linked with Rytu Bandhu and Rytu Bima. Under the BRS the erstwhile Khammam will be transformed into a golden nugget,” he promised the people.

He pointed out that his Government solved the problem of low-lying areas of the district by building high-level bridges and encouraged institutional deliveries to save the tribals from opting for deliveries at home, fearing to cross streams.