KCR puts farmer first

​Siddipet/Sircilla/Yellareddy: Focussing more on explaining what the TRS would do to improve the living standards of farmers if voted to power again, party president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said his government would set up food processing industries in all the Assembly constituencies and women members of the Indira Kranti Patham (IKP) will be given the responsibility to manage them.

Referring to how seven progressive women in a Mumbai’s biggest slum Dharavi had started India’s first women cooperative to manufacture fast-moving consumer goods like papad, detergent powder, bakery products, spices and flour in 1959 which has now become a major manufacturing unit with a turnover of over Rs 1000 crore providing employment to thousands of women across the country, KCR said the proposed food processing units too can become remarkable entrepreneurial initiatives in Telangana.

The state has all necessary resources including water for irrigation and free power and hardworking people, he said. Addressing Praja Ashirwada Sabhas in Sircilla, Siddipet and Yellareddy on Tuesday, KCR said women will procure food products from the farmers and manufacture the goods in the food processing units. These products can be marketed not only in the country but also across the globe.

He also assured to the women employees of IKP that their services would be regularised, and they would become permanent government employees. The Chief Minister also announced his grand plans for introducing a new public distribution system (PDS) to benefit farmers, self-help groups, ration dealers and members of Farmers Associations Coordination Committees (FACC) at one go. Further, the proposed PDS will also curb spurious food material including chill and turmeric.

KCR said remunerative price to farmers for their crops has remained a long pending issue even as spurious food business was spreading its tentacles across the country. He pointed out that the state was witnessing huge growth in crop production which needs to be streamlined to ensure remunerative price to farmers.

To achieve this, he said, there is a need to develop crop colonies. Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University is developing a plan dividing the entire state into crop colonies. With the help of FACCs, we will promote crop colonies and produce divide crops between them. The produce will be purchased through Indira Kranthi Patham Self Help Groups (IKP SHGs) who will process it at their food processing units and sell their products through ration dealers,” he explained.

He said that a meeting will be convened with the ration dealers after the elections to finalise their role and their remuneration. He further said that by next year Kaleshwaram water would reach Vemulawada and there would be lush green crops in the district. He said the Congress and TDP which were in power in the undivided Andhra Pradesh never did anything for the welfare of the people of Telangana. Even after achieving Telangana, the Andhra leaders were creating hurdles in every developmental activity.

KCR said the development in the last four and half years by TRS government was in front of the people and if they believe him and if want development to continue they should vote for the TRS. The Chief Minister also promised to develop Vemulawada temple. He said that the government concentrated on development of Yadadri temple and in the next term Vemulawada temple would be developed. He said Telangana was giving best salaries to the employees in the country. The traffic police are given risk allowance. People from neighbouring states are demanding government to merge their villages in Telangana, he added.