Congress demands drought tag for more mandals

Vizianagaram: PCC president Gidugu Rudra Raju demanded the state government and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to address the farmers’ issues and declare more mandals as drought-hit besides supporting farmers.

He along with another senior leader N Raghuveera Reddy took part in a rally to express solidarity with farmers here on Thursday. He demanded the CM to come out of his ‘palace’ to understand the problems of farmers. “The farmers are mired in troubles with crop losses, natural calamities or pests which are damaging the crops. Kurnool farmers are losing groundnut crop due to low yield and paddy farmers are also about to face the same fate due scanty rain. Why only 103 mandals out of 685 have been identified as drought-hit? Why the government is hiding the actual situation?,’ he said.

Rudra Raju warned that farmers would have no option but to resorting to extreme step if government doesn’t act swiftly. He urged the government to link NREGS with agriculture works and provide interrupted power for nine hours to farmers.