Opposition politicising farmer deaths: Srinivas Reddy
The state had written to the Centre to treat farmers as a unit
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-09-03 06:42 GMT
HYDERABAD: As per the GO, dating back to YSR’s era, the kin of a dead farmer is paid Rs 1 lakh ex gratia besides loan settlement amount up to a ceiling of Rs 50,000 as a one-time settlement as a measure of support to the distressed family.
Mr Srinivas Reddy said the state had written to the Centre to treat farmers as a unit and ensure crop insurance coverage. “While paying compensation to the kin of farmers, the government in a bid to make farming remunerative, has taken several measures including waiver of crop loans, ensuring power supply, propagation of drip irrigation, mechanisation, polyhouse, subsidised seeds and other measures,” he said.
Stating that Telangana was suffering from inadequate rainfall, he said cropped area had touched 34.80 lakh hectare in the state as on date against the normal of 41.43 lakh hectare (82 per cent). The minister added that the disaster management department was studying rainfall data across the state based on which it would declare drought hit mandals in a scientific manner soon.
“Opposition parties are politicising everything and indulging in mudslinging. They had ruled the state for long and they have to be blamed for all the ills plaguing the state,” he said. Dismissing the charges of the opposition parties, he said that the government had parked Rs 200 crore for payment of interest to farmers who had repaid their loans on time and had renewed their loans in July itself.
“The government will pay the interest of farmers who took crop loans and repaid promptly. Bankers should not collect interest in such cases. There is no payment of interest for loans below Rs 1 lakh. Those taking loans up to Rs 3 lakh will have to pay pavala vaddi (25 paisa interest). Government will earmark Rs 4,250 crore every year for repayment of crop loans to farmers,” he added. Mr Reddy said that this Kharif season, 15,00,131 farmers were paid crop loans of Rs 6,631 crore and the target was 35 lakh farmers by September end.
Meanwhile, TD’s Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said they had collected data of every household where a farmer had committed suicide and had sent the list, containing 1,000-odd farmers, to the chief secretary, but there had been no response.
3 farmers end life due to increasing debts:
Increasing debts followed by crop loss pushed three cotton farmers in Telangana to take their lives in the last 24 hours. Ambati Narayana, a 37 year-old tenant farmer from Chinna Boyanalu village of Sircilla mandal in Karimnagar, allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide.
Another farmer who took his life by consuming pesticide was T. Mangya, 40, from Krishnapuram in Khammam. He was cultivating chilli and cotton crops in his farm he took as a tenant. In another incident in Peerlapally village of Gajwel mandal of Medak district a farmer committed suicide by hanging himself in the morning on Wednesday.