Hyderabad: First fulfill promises made to farmers says Uttam to KCR

Hyderabad: Taking a potshot at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday demanded the CM to first fulfill the old promises before giving 'surprise gift' to farmers which he announced while inaugurating Konda Pochamma Sagar project on Friday.

Addressing a video-conference with party ZPTCs at Gandhi Bhavan, Uttam said that the Chief Minister should do a serious introspection before making another promise to farmers as none of the promises which he had made in the past were fulfilled.

He demanded that the Chief Minister first procure entire paddy and maize crops at MSP and also clear the dues of red gram farmers.

He asked KCR to first fulfill the promise of waiving off crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh. He should also pay Rythu Bandhu assistance to all the farmers without imposing any conditions.

He reminded that nearly 40 per cent of farmers were being deprived of Rythu Bandhu amount on one pretext or the other.

Further, he said that the farmers never got any compensation for the losses to their crops due to natural calamities like drought or unseasonal rains. He reminded that chilli farmers in Khammam were arrested, tortured and jailed for demanding better prices for their produce.

The TPCC president said that the Chief Minister should withdraw the new Agricultural Policy which forces the farmers to grow crops suggested by the government. He said that the move was dictatorial in nature and it does not guarantee any protection to farmers' investments.

He said Kaleshwaram Project was constructed only to get commissions and kickbacks from the contractors. The Chief Minister was deceiving people by showing the ayacut of Sriram Sagar Project as of Kaleshwaram's.

The TPCC chief alleged that the TRS government has weakened the local bodies and no funds were being given to Panchayats or Mandal Parishads. He said that the present KCR regimes would be remembered in history for its worst administration and mismanagement of resources.