Vijayawada: Tenant farmers demand ID cards

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Tenant Farmers Association has decided to stage demonstrations near the District Collectorates on October 16 demanding the government for the distribution of ID cards and enrollment of the names of the tenant farmers in e-crop portal. The APTFA state executive body meeting was held at Dasari Bhavan here on Sunday.

Association State general secretary P Jamalayya addressing the members criticised the government is not sanctioning ID cards to tenant farmers. He said the tenant farmers can’t get crop loans from banks due to lack of ID cards and their names not getting enrolled in e-crop portal for the insurance facility. He said there are 32 lakh tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh but the government issued the ID cards to only 5 lakh tenant farmers.

He demanded that the government sanction interest-free bank loans to the tenant farmers as they had been facing hardships to get the bank loans for cultivation of crops. He demanded the state government to increase the last date for e-crop bookings for the tenant farmers and ensure the crop insurance facility to the tenant farmers.

He said the Tenant Farmers Association decided to stage protests near the District Collectorates on October 16 and near the banks on October 20. Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham general secretary KVV Prasad said that a Black Day will be observed in the State on October 3 in response to the call given by Samyuktha Kisan Morcha and protests will be held at the mandal and district centres opposing the policies of the Union government.

He further said protests will be held near the Raj Bhavan on November 26, 27 and 28 against the anti-farmer policies of the State and Central governments. The Association members paid homage to noted farmers’ leader Yerneni Nagendranath, noted engineer Cherukuri Veeraiah and eminent agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan.