Ongole: BJP requests Collector to respond to farmers' woes

Ongole: Bharatiya Janata Party Kisan Morcha State vice-president PV Krishna Reddy, treasurer Bontha Krishna, OBC Morcha State committee member Tanikonda Suresh submitted a representation to the District Collector on Monday, requesting him to immediately respond to the problems of the farmers.

Krishna Reddy explained that they informed the Collector that chilli farmers spent about Rs 1 lakh per acre, but they lost the entire crop to the thrips, a type of pests, and their future is uncertain now. They demanded the Collector to provide compensation to the farmers under Free Crop Insurance programme. They explained that though one lakh tonne of paddy was produced in the district, paddy purchase centres are not yet opened on a full scale, and the farmers, who didn't register on e-Crop, are facing problems. They asked the Collector to give some respite to the farmers and see that even the damaged paddy is procured in the district.

They requested the Collector to form farmers associations to establish custom hiring groups and provide them with modern agriculture machines on subsidy; and to provide drip irrigation tools under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchayi Yojana and Per Drop- More Crop programmes as Rs 1,028 crore are available in the State from the agriculture and NABARD funds. They also demanded the government to provide Rs 30,000 as compensation to the farmers of food grains crops, and Rs 50,000 per acre to the farmers of commercial crops, who lost them to the floods, and pests.