Uttam Kumar Reddy slams Centre for not fulfilling promises made to Telangana

New Delhi: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the BJP-led Central government for failing to fulfil the assurances given to Telangana as per Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

Opposing the Motion of Thanks on President Ram Nath Kovind's address in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Uttam said that the people of Telangana were highly disappointed with the President's address. "What was assured for Telangana and its people in the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2014 was not fulfilled. We expected that there would be some mention of those promises in the President's address. The unfulfilled promises include Railway Coach Factory at Kazipet, a steel plant at Bayyaram and many other issues," he said.

Criticising the three new farm laws, Uttam said that the controversial legislations have already started making a negative impact on the lives of farmers. He said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made an announcement that the State government would be closing down all the IKP and PACs centres which procure agriculture produce from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The CM has cited the new farm laws as the reason for closing down the procurement centres from Rabi season onwards. He sought to know as to what transpired between the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister in the meeting.

Uttam described the crop insurance scheme, the PM Fasal Bima Yojna, as a total flop. He said not a single farmer from Telangana was covered under this scheme. He said nearly 25 lakh acres of standing crops were damaged due to heavy rains in Telangana.

However, not a single farmer got any compensation or crop insurance to cover the damage. He also alleged that 10 insurance companies were exploiting the farmers in the name of PM Fasal Bima Yojna. He said the total premium of approximately Rs. 1.35 lakh crore was paid to insurance companies. However, they settled claims of about Rs. 90,000 crore. This means that the insurance companies pocketed net profit of nearly Rs. 45,000 Crore from the public exchequer.