Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast Region and TS BJP president G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday claimed that the farmers here had been under deep distress with as many as 6,000 of them committing suicide in the last nine years of TRS/BRS rule.
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has hoodwinked the farmers in promising to bring one crore acres under cultivation, round-the-clock power to agriculture, loan waiver, seed bowl, free fertilizer supply and so on, but not fulfilling them,” he charged at the inauguration of the PM Kisan Seva Centre at Shamirpet. It was first of the estimated 4,900 fertilizer shops to be upgraded in phases across TS.
The Minister said that while the Modi Government at the Centre had doubled the minimum support price for crops over the years, the KCR Government had not even provided the ₹10,000 for each acre lost during the unseasonal rains a few months ago.
“BRS Government does not implement the Centre’s farm insurance scheme, leaving farmers to the mercy of sudden climate changes and forcing them to protest on the roads seeking compensation,” he said. Apart from the shifting stance on cultivating paddy, the Government had dealt a body blow to the farmers by bringing in ‘Dharani’ revenue portal, he said.
The BJP leader caustically observed that the portal was being used only to make changes in the official land records, suiting ruling party leaders at the cost of farmers. “Farmers are running from pillar to post to get the mistakes rectified in the portal. It is time to usher in a government which works in farmers’ interest,” he said.
Mr. Kishan Reddy sought the support of farmer organisations to bring his party to power in the next elections and to “dethrone the KCR regime which had ignored the interests of the unemployed youth also”.
The newly opened centre will provide advisory services on new farm practices, implements, fertilizer usage, seed testing, soil testing, use of drones, cropping and so on. The personnel manning these centres would be trained every six months.
