Anantapur: Provide relief to flood-hit farmers says CPI

Anantapur: The state government has not sanctioned even a single rupee as compensation for crops damaged by floods during kharif season, according to CPI state secretary K Rama Krishna and Praja Science Vedika president Suresh Babu, in a press statement.

In the statement, Rama Krishna said, "It has defeated the very purpose of input subsidy to farmers. The purpose of input subsidy is to provide relief to farmers who have lost their crops due to drought or floods by releasing subsidy on the expenditure incurred during the immediate agricultural season".

More than 48 mandals in the district received heavy rains and floods during kharif triggering migrations and suicides of farmers. Along with groundnut, paddy, cotton, chili, onion and other cash crops, horticulture crops such as mango, banana, papaya, pomegranate, sweet lime and acid lime were affected.

Rama Krishna said the government was not showing any interest in helping farmers, but willing to release funds to clear the bills of contractors. This shows the priorities of government. The state government has failed to release its share and hence the input subsidy was put on hold. As the state has to utilise budget judiciously, it used the available funds according to its priorities. Hence, there was a delay in releasing subsidy, he said.

The government should give paramount importance to release the subsidy amount and take remedial measures to expedite the assessment of crop damage. The subsidy amount should be provided to the farmer whose crops were damaged during kharif season or due to low rainfall.

The CPI state secretary demanded that the farmers with fallow land should be provided Rs 5,000 per acre, unirrigated crops Rs 4,000, irrigated crops Rs 6,000 and for perennial crops Rs 8,000 per acre should be paid. The Central government should immediately release funds to banks to enable them to credit the interest subvention and prompt repayment of incentive to all the eligible farmers, he added.