Nellore: Agriculture Minister assures full support to cyclone-hit farmers

Nellore: Agriculture Minister K Govardhan Reddy assured that they would extend support to the rain-affected farmers in all districts. He visited Veerampalli village in Manubole mandal on Wednesday along with officials and inspected the damaged crops.

He said officials have collected details of crop loss across the district and were going to support them liberally by relaxing norms.

He said officials were asked to prepare mandal-wise data of crop damage.

He blamed the previous TDP government for harassing farmers with various rules and regulations in providing support during natural calamities. But the YSRCP government would extend a helping hand generously.

The Minister said they would provide compensation to farmers, irrespective of their produce, whether they are cultivating food crops, commercial or horticulture. He criticised the earlier TDP govt for its failure to clear crop loss dues to the tune of Rs 716 crore to farmers. The TDP has no moral right to criticise the YSR Congress as they were providing maximum support to the farmers. He said the opposition was planning to gain political mileage by instigating farmers, but the ryots do not believe in such melodramas.

Further, the Minister said precautionary measures taken by the district administration avoided human loss due to Cyclone Mandous. There were only crop losses and they would provide seeds at 80 pc subsidy and input subsidy. Senior officials were present during his visit.