Bharatiya Janata Party Kisan Morcha State president Ch. Kumara Swamy demanded that the government pay adequate compensation to the farmers towards the crop loss suffered by them during the recent Cyclone Michaung, and procure all of the soaked paddy without imposing any unreasonable conditions.
Participating in a demonstration organised by the Kisan Morcha in protest against the government’s alleged lukewarm response to the plight of cyclone-hit farmers, at Dharna Chowk here on Wednesday, Mr. Swamy said the loss could have been mitigated had the officials taken the cyclone warnings seriously and swung into action at the right time.
Proper maintenance of the drainage systems would have saved the crops to some extent but they were in an utter state of neglect, he said. Now, the middlemen were making money by exploiting the hapless farmers. The Rythu Bharosa Kendras were of little use to them, Mr. Kumara Swamy said.
He regretted that the enumeration of damages was yet to begin at many places, and instead of discussing the fallout of the cyclone with experts, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was talking to the MLAs even as the Central team was on a visit to the State to assess the loss.
If the State government continued to be indifferent to the grim situation faced by the farmers, the Kisan Morcha would intensify the agitation, Mr. Swamy warned. Kisan Morcha’s NTR district president K. Sambasiva Rao, BJP district president A. Sriram and others were present.
