Trousers rolled up to his knees, Konaseema Collector Himanshu Shukla walked into ankle-deep water at a nursery where he joined farmers in spraying paddy seeds, in a bid to win them over and coax them to drop their plans of going for a crop holiday, at Modukuru village of Alamuru mandal in Konaseema district.
Recently, several farmers’ groups had voluntarily declared a crop holiday for Kharif-2022, citing the absence of any desilting activity along the canal system and a delay in payment for paddy procured from them by the government.
On being alerted by farmers regarding the unfavourable conditions for paddy operations, Mr. Shukla swung into the action and ensured that the paddy procurement dues were cleared. The Collector also launched a desilting drive in Konaseema district.
On Tuesday, Mr. Shukla met a few farmers and joined them in a seed-sowing exercise as a mark of encouragement on behalf of the State government. He also inspected the paddy sowing activity and ongoing desilting drive in Alamuru mandal.
The Collector also inquired with farmers about their grievances and other local issues and appealed to them to intensify the Kharif operations.
