Provide financial support to tenant farmers also

Bhupalpally: If Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is really committed for the welfare of the farming community, then he should extend the proposed financial assistance of Rs 4,000 per acre to tenant farmers also, demanded TPCC former chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah.

The Congress leader also wanted immediate release of pending crop damage compensation and insurance amount to the farmers.Stating that the real need of farmers was a profitable minimum support price (MSP) to agriculture produce, he felt the TRS government was trying to fool farmers with its financial assistance scheme.
  
Lakshmaiah addressed a public meeting at Kothapalli village in Bhupalpally mandal in the district late last night. In Congress regime, market intervention fund was set up to help farmers and to ensure MSP, he said.He asserted that farmers were happy under Congress rule as former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy ensured profitable price to cotton along with Rs 500 bonus, when the price was low while offering seeds at subsidised price.

The public in Telangana were vexed up with the false promises by the CM and were waiting for a chance to teach a lesson to TRS in the next Assembly elections, Lakshmaiah said. He appreciated ‘Rythu Bharosa Padayatra’ taken up by former chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy in Bhupalpally constituency.

Addressing the gathering, Ramana Reddy said during the four years of the TRS rule, poorer sections were still unable to get double bedroom houses, three acres land to dalit and tribal families. The promise of offering one lakh jobs to educated youth remained unfulfilled.

He challenged the CM to visit villages to understand the problems being faced by people. Groundwater depleted and crops were withering away. But neither the concerned minister nor the officials were visiting the villages and no efforts were being made to offer compensation for the crop loss, he said.

The party leaders reiterated Congress’ promise of waiving Rs 2 lakh crop loans.   Earlier on the day, Lakshmaiah, city Congress president Rajanala Srihari, TPCC co-option member EV Srinivas Rao and senior leader Dommati Sambaiah walked through the villages along with Ramana Reddy expressing solidarity to his yatra.

A cake was cut marking completion of 400 kilometres of yatra covering 117 villages in three mandals in the constituency in 23 days. Ramana Reddy would be covering another 300 villages in Mulug Ghanpur, Regonda and Shayampet in next 20 days.