Hyderabad: Shabbir Ali seeks relief for rain-hit ryots

Hyderabad: Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Tuesday demanded the State government to provide compensation to farmers who lost their paddy and cotton crops to excess rains, spurious seeds and other reasons. He visited various farmlands in Narsingi mandal, where farmers set ablaze their paddy and cotton crops.

Speaking to the media persons later, Shabbir Ali pointed out that many tenant farmers have suffered heavy losses due to the damage caused by the heavy rains. Accusing Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of failing to conduct a review meeting to discuss the damage caused by the rains, he said the government and its officials were yet to enumerate the losses and provide the relief.

The Congress leader said that the KCR government first forced the farmers to change the cropping pattern which increased their investment and also the risk.

The farmers borrowed huge loans from banks and private moneylenders with the hope that they would be backed by the government for following the Regulated Cropping system. However, he said that after farmers lost their crops, they got the biggest shock as the authorities did not even visit their farms to enumerate the losses.

He said since farmers would need to invest more money to remove the damaged crops, they were setting their own fields on fire.

Stating that the Chief Minister was quick to announce Rs 10,000 assistance to flood-affected families in Hyderabad in view of GHMC elections, Shabbir Ali said the same CM never provided any assistance to farmers who lost their crops to natural calamities or other causes in the last six years.

He demanded that the government announce an immediate relief package for farmers who lost their crops in the current season.