Singireddy demands Rs 500 per quintal paddy bonus, Rythu Bandhu payments to farmers

Hyderabad : Former Agriculture minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Thursday demanded the government to provide Rs 500/quintal as bonus for the Kharif paddy as promised during the Assembly elections.

He raised the demand at a press conference at Telangana Bhavan. Reddy alleged that payments are pending to the tune of thousands of crores. ‘The bonus should be paid as per assurance given to farmers whose payments are due’. Former minister Satyavathi Rathor, MP Maloth Kavitha, ex-MP Sitaram Naik were present.

He recalled that the BRS government had procured paddy by setting up over 7,000 centers and made payments to farmers within seven-ten days. But the government is playing with lives of farmers by not depositing the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ money in their bank accounts.

The BRS leader recalled that on December 27 Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had claimed depositing money under ‘Rythu Bandhu’. Again on January 9 Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said ‘Rythu Bandhu’ was received by all farmers. Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao had said ‘Rythu Bandhu’ money will be deposited after Sankranti. ‘They all talked about loan waiver from December 9, but are silent on this. We have said earlier don’t deceive farmers. The government should show proof of loan waiver to any farmer across State,” demanded Reddy. He said due to insufficient rainfall in the Krishna basin this time farmers cultivated less crops. In the Godavari basin there is enough irrigation water for crops in the Lower Manair, Upper Manair, SRSP, Ranganayakasagar and Mallannasagar. The government should give clarity to farmers whether it would give water to them or not. He wanted the government to take all steps by the time the Rabi crop comes to market.

Reddy warned the government not to try to escape citing Parliament election. He said that Telangana chilli has demand both at national and international level. ‘The chilli is not getting support price in Warangal, Enumamula and Khammam markets. No government officials are responding; the government should take immediate action on this, he demanded. Reddy claimed that in the past the government had taken advanced steps and procured crops with minimum support price. He recalled that 24-hour power supply was provided to all sectors by the KCR government and free to the agriculture sector. He demanded government steps to provide 24-hour free electricity to the farm sector in accordance with the previous government policy.