Naidu assures all help to crisis-hit betel nut ryots

Madakasira (Sathya Sai): Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has promised to work out a plan of action for transforming the constituency into a happening place by establishing industries and processing plants to make the predominant betel nut and sericulture crops a commercially viable proposition with market facilities and ensuring payment of remunerative price.

The Chief Minister called upon the betel nut farmers to form into a farmers’ collective and establish a farmers-producers organization (FPO).

He said the Central government has funds and training programmes to support farmers if the betel nut farmers can form into cooperatives. This would help in establishing farmers’ clusters and for setting up processing plants.

Tippe Swamy, a betel nut farmer, told the Chief Minister that there are more than 20,000 betel nut farmers. At present, they are sending the crop to Karnataka for processing which is proving to be costly. The betel nut crop has a long gestation period of 6-10 years to reach the stage of attaining commercial profits. A farmer can earn a profit of Rs 2 lakh per acre. Nut farmers urged the Chief Minister to revive the 90 percent drip subsidy discontinued by the YSRCP government.

Naidu announced sanctioning of a ring road at a cost of Rs 60 crore and boost rural infrastructure. The interesting factor during the visit of Naidu was there was no forceful crowd mobilization, no hiring of buses to bring crowds for the public meeting as it used to be during the YSRCP regime.

Earlier, Naidu visited a mulberry plantation and participated in door-to-door pension distribution in Gundumala village in Madakasira mandal. He sat for sometime and interacted with the members of the family. Later addressing the people of Gundumala village, he recalled the days of horror and evil rule of Jagan Mohan Reddy and advised the people never again to commit the mistake of voting for him and his party.

Promising to link all the rivers in the state on the lines of golden quadrangle of highways, Naidu said that Jagan had failed to earmark funds worth mentioning for irrigation sector whereas the TDP government had spent a staggering Rs 68,000 crore during 2014-19 on irrigation projects.

Naidu elaborated on the multiple nature of pensions his government was implementing. The TDP government has virtually doubled the pensions given to handicapped from Rs 3000 to 6000, leprosy patients Rs 6000, kidney patients, Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 to bed-ridden patients and ex-servicemen Rs 5000 and old age pensions Rs 4000 every month, he said.

These amounts work out to a staggering Rs 33,000 crore per annum and there was no money with the government. Still the TDP government was saving every rupee and is spending it prudently unlike Jagan who splurged Rs 500 crore on Rishikonda palace in Vizag, Rs 403 crore payment to Sakshi group for advertisements in five years and Rs 700 crore for planting land survey stones.