Farmers' survey may miss May 15 deadline

Vikarabad: The survey intended to asses farmers needs has been repeatedly interrupted by successive elections. Agriculture officials and staff who have been collecting the information by visiting farmers' homes became busy with election duties. As such, the key study to survey what a farmer is in need of has seriously taken a beating.

However, with Chief Minister KCR turning his attention yet on the issue dear to his heart, senior officials have announced that the staff of agriculture department involved in the election work will be exempted from the duties so that the survey can be resumed again and expedited.

Officials in the know of things, however, admit it is not possible to complete the survey within the deadline. If farmers do not submit the details, then they may lose the benefits. This is a piquant situation for farmers as time is running out for them.

As part of the survey, officials have to visit farmers at their homes and find out their problems, and enquire whether the schemes introduced by the government were reaching them. They should also seek opinions of farmers on the kind of measures needed to better their lot.

They have to elicit information and answers to as many as 39 types of questions. The programme was launched on March 29 and, the report should be submitted to the government by May 15. Even 20 per cent of the survey work has not been completed yet. It seems it has not begun in some of the mandals.

There are 2,11,928 small and large farmers in the four constituencies in Vikarabad district. There is a total area of 1,50,798 hectares. This includes 96,994 hectares with irrigation facility and 24,662 hectares are dependent on rainfall.

The government staff has to visit door-to-door, touring villages from morning to evening to collect the details of more than 2 lakh farmers across the district. This is a full-time job. In addition, there are only 70 AEs are in duty against 99 in the district.

Though the staff is not sufficient to discharge their duties for the survey itself, they were also allotted election duties consecutively for months. As a result, the survey was halted. After the Lok Sabha polls, the staff was allotted duties for ZPTC and MPTC elections.

Farmers are looking forward to expressing their problems and seeking solutions through the survey. Those who could not utilise the government schemes are eagerly waiting for this survey.

Though officials confidently say that they will proceed with the survey, it is clearly evident that allocation of staff for both survey and election is a very difficult task. Officials are now preparing to take the issue to the notice of higher-ups for solution to the piquant situation.