BJP, TRS Govts neglecting farmers, migrant workers: Uttam Kumar Reddy

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the State Government take immediate corrective measures in procuring the agriculture produce from farmers. He also slammed both the Centre and State Governments for neglecting the plight of migrant workers.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with other senior leaders, staged a day-long Satyagraha Deeksha at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday to protest against the shortcomings in the procurement of agriculture produce and migrant workers' welfare. Malkajgiri MP A. Revanth Reddy, TPCC Working President Ponnam Prabhakar, MLA Jagga Reddy, ex-CLP leader K. Jana Reddy, ex-PCC President V. Hanumantha Rao, TPCC Covid-19 Task Force Committee chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Hyderabad City Congress president M. Anjan Kumar Yadav and other senior leaders also participated in the dharna.

Speaking to media persons, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that as directed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the PCC would take care of the travel cost of migrant labours in Telangana State so as to help them reach their homes safely. He said it was highly unfortunate that donations of hundreds of crores were being collected in the PM Care and CM Care. However, those funds are not being utilised to arrange free travel, food and other facilities for the migrant workers. Since the BJP Government at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana are not willing to take care of migrant workers, the Congress party would proudly bear the cost of travel to their native places.

The TPCC Chief said it was highly shameful that the State Government has no data, not even rough estimation, on the number of migrant workers in Telangana. "When the government is not even aware of their numbers, what help it could provide to them?" he asked.

Uttam Kumar Reddy urged the State Government to convince the migrant workers not to leave Telangana. He said the migrant workers should be provided all facilities and required help to ensure that they stay in their current locations. He said there would be a huge vacuum, especially in the construction industry, if lakhs of migrant workers leave the State at once. He said this would badly impact the development process. However, if the migrant workers are firm on returning to their native State, then the State Government should arrange special trains and Congress party would bear the travel cost for the needy ones.

The TPCC Chief also demanded that the State Government hasten up the process for procurement of paddy. So far, he said only 25 lakh Metric Tonnes of paddy has been procured. He said harvested paddy was getting wet due to unseasonal rains due to lack of availability of gunny bags and tarpaulin. He said farmers were facing huge losses due to the negligence of local authorities. He demanded that the State Government procure entire wet paddy at the Minimum Support Price to protect the farmers from heavy losses.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the TRS Government, in one of its mouthpiece, has given indications that it could re-open liquor shops. He advised Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao to be cautious in allowing the re-opening of liquor shops in the State. He said more than revenues, the government should give priority to the interest of common people. He demanded that the State Government provide financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 each to all the poor people. Further, he demanded a supply of quality rice to the poor at ration shops. He also urged the government to help the Sweet Lime farmers by purchasing their produce.

The TPCC chief advised CM KCR to focus on governance and administration than exploring means to target the opposition parties. He said it would be in the interest of people of Telangana if KCR behaves more like a Chief Minister instead of being a person who derives pleasure by criticising all others.

He reiterated the demand for increasing the number of Coronavirus tests in Telangana State. He said Telangana was conducting the least number of tests to trace the Covid-19 patients. He said neither the State laboratories were being fully utilised nor the private labs, approved by ICMR, were being permitted to conduct the tests. He said the decision not to conduct Corona test on dead bodies to ascertain the cause of death was highly puzzling and leads to the suspicion that the State Government was trying to hush up the real figures on Coronavirus infections and deaths.