Let farmers decide what to grow, Centre, TS told
Mohammed Ali Shabbir
Kamareddy: Former Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday demanded that the Central and the State governments give farmers complete freedom to decide the crops they want to grow.
Addressing a massive Dalit Girijana Atma Gaurav Dandora meeting at Machareddy of Kamareddy district, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for warning farmers against growing paddy crops.
He said that the warning was not based on scientific data or market research. He reminded that the CM during the Independence Day speech took pride for the highest yield of paddy in Telangana. In less than a month, he changed his stand and now he was warning farmers against growing paddy while blaming the Centre for non-procurement of paddy.
Shabbir Ali ridiculed CM KCR's claims that his government was providing all necessary assistance to the farmers. He said 24 hours free power supply to farmers became a reality due to the initiatives taken by the previous Congress government.
"Further, the TRS government is yet to fulfill the promise of waiving off crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh. Banks are not providing fresh loans to lakhs of farmers. Farmers are not getting proper supplies of seeds and fertilisers.
None of the farmers, who lost their crops due to natural calamities, got any compensation in the last seven years," he said adding that the Congress party would not tolerate such dictates of CM KCR.
Speaking about Kamareddy, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned the TRS Govt for not releasing Rs. 200 Crore for the completion of Package-22 of the Pranahita Chevella Project that would irrigate 3.5 lakh acres of land in Kamareddy, Yellareddy and parts of Ramayampet.
He reminded that the foundation for Pranahita Chevella Project was laid in 2008 by the then Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy and as the Cabinet Minister and local MLA, he got approvals for Rs 1,400 crore to bring Godavari river water to the Kamareddy. However, he alleged that CM KCR stopped the release of funds since 2014 to complete Package-22.