Jana Sena Party (JSP) Political Affairs Committee chairman Nadendla Manohar on Thursday said that Andhra Pradesh stood in the third place in the country in terms of farmers’ suicide.
Addressing the media here, Mr. Manohar said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should look into the factors that led to the farm distress, which led to “3,000 suicides during his tenure.”
“The government claims to have spent ₹1.27 lakh crore on farmers’ welfare. But why is it that the amount spent could not stop the swelling cases of farmers’ suicide in the State? The government further claims that 850 farmers have ended their life since 2019. If it is taken into the account, has the government paid ₹7 lakh as ex gratia even to the next of kin of these families? he questioned.
“The exclusion of genuine tenant farmers from the eligibility criteria for the Crop Cultivators Rights Card (CCRC) and the attempts to hush up the suicides are a few factors that are further deepening the farm distress. The government is choosing to ignore the facts,” he said.
Mr. Manohar said the JSP was committed to its claims on the farmers’ suicide, and it was up to the State government to prove it wrong.
On July 16, JSP president Pawan Kalyan would visit the families of the 60 farmers who had ended their life due to the crisis in the erstwhile East Godavari district since mid-2019.
“Mr. Pawan Kalyan will also offer an aid of ₹1 lakh to each family during the ‘Koula Rythu Bharosa Yatra’ to be undertaken the same day at Mandapeta in Konaseema district,” he said.
Online campaign
“The JSP will also launch an online campaign on the bad roads across the State. The three-day campaign, titled ‘GoodmorningCMSir’, will begin on July 15,” he said.
