Andhra Pradesh: TDP demands payment of Neeru Chettu dues

Amaravati: Former government whip and TDP leader Kuna Ravikumar on Wednesday asserted that there was a rising resentment among all sections of farmers in Andhra Pradesh against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government's unfriendly policies towards the agriculture sector.

Ravikumar said that the farmers carried out Neeru-Chettu works of below Rs 10 lakh value all over the state in the previous TDP regime. Now, the Jagan government was harassing them by not paying Rs 1,700 crore dues for the past two-and-a-half years. Moreover, the government was ordering false enquiries to brand these farmers as 'robbers and corrupt persons'.

Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader said that the YSRCP regime gave a raw deal to the farmers in all spheres of agricultural activities ever since it came to power. Alarmingly, the farmers were targetted and victimised along political lines. The farmers have sold their wives' mangal sutras to complete Neeru-Chettu works but the present rulers were making their lives miserable by denying payments.

Ravikumar said that as per the chief engineer of minor irrigation himself, there were Rs 1,700 crore dues under Neeru-Chettu works. The Chandrababu government carried out over Rs 4,851 crore of Neeru-Chettu works, which helped in recharging groundwater table up to 5 metre and stabilising over 7 lakh acres all over the state.

However, ever since he became the Chief Minister in 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy did not construct a single check dam nor a single farm pond nor one single water consumption work anywhere in the state.

Accusing the ruling YSRCP of 'victimising farmers', the TDP leader warned of dire consequences if the government officials in any department would succumb to political pressures to give false reports against Neeru-Chettu works. As per the laws, the defect liability can be applied only to those original and maintenance works within 2 years after their completion. Over four years were passed but the government was trying to cite fabricated defects to deny payments to the Neeru-Chettu works.

The TDP leader said that the Chandrababu government got nine Skoch awards for excellence in different fields but the Jagan regime was getting national and international wards in ganja cultivation.

The ruling YSRCP has turned AP into the most tainted 'ganja state' in the entire country.