3,000 tenant farmers ended lives in 3 years: Manohar

Kadapa (YSR district): Jana Sena Party(JSP) political affairs committee (PAC) chairman Nadendla Manohar said that around 3,000 farmers committed suicide after YSRCP came to power in the state. He was here on Thursday for inspecting arrangements for party chief Pawan Kalyan's public programme scheduled for August 20.

Speaking to media, Manohar said that out of total 176 tenant farmers who committed suicide in YSR district, 46 farmers committed suicide in Pulivendula constituency alone. Most of them resorted to the extreme step after failing to repay loans to private money lenders borrowed at high rates of interest.

Dismissing Rythu Barosa Kendras (RBKs) as bogus, the JSP leader asked why 3,000 farmers ended their lives if RBKs were of so much help to farmers as claimed by the YSRCP government. "What is the use of establishing RBKs with Rs 6,300 crore as farmers not able even to secure minimum support price(MSP) for their produce?" he said.

Manohar said framing of new rules favouring land owner is driving tenant farmers to suicides. "As per the new rules, banks are giving crop loans with the name of land owner. Should tenant farmers get the loan, he should have a written agreement with the land owner. This is the main reason tenant farmers fail to secure loans from the banks," he said.

He said with a view to create confidence among tenant farmers Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan had allocated Rs 5 crore from his own pocket and his family members and well-wishers were extending financial help for the families of deceased tenant farmers. Manohar said that as part of this programme on August 20, Pawan Kalyan will distribute Rs 1 lakh each to 146 families of tenant farmers who ended their lives in the last three years in erstwhile Kadapa district. This programme would be held in Sidhavatam mandal, he said, adding that financial help would be extended irrespective of caste, creed and political affiliations.

When asked about compensation being paid by the government to the families of the deceased, he replied that the aid was limited to only to one particular caste (Reddys) or farmer belonging to ruling party.