Drought Because of Congress’ Policies: KTR

Karimnagar: Former minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao alleged that the farmers in the state were facing a lot of hardships because of the policies adopted by the Congress government. The drought which is being witnessed in the state was not because of the nature and time but because of the current Congress government, he said after inspecting the fields at Sarampally village in Rajanna Sircilla district on Thursday.

The agriculture crisis in the state would have been avoided had the Congress government constructed a copper dam at the site where the pillars of the Medigadda Barrage were sunk, the Sircilla MLA said.

Noting that the BRS government had successfully provided irrigation water same time last year, he questioned, why Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was not able to do the same by taking up repair works of the barrage to save the standing crops across the state. Except for making constant visits to Delhi, Revanth Reddy has done nothing for the people of Telangana, Rama Rao alleged.

He said that around 15 to 20 lakh acres of crops were drying up with non-availability of irrigation water across the state. All the BRS MLAs were inspecting the damaged crops and promising the affected farmers to fight for them in the need of the hour.

He alleged that the Congress government deceived farmers and tenant farmers by not sanctioning Rythu Bandhu's aid. It diverted about Rs 7,000 crore of funds under the scheme sanctioned during the BRS rule only to give them to contractors.

Instead of realising its promise of a Rs 2-lakh crop waiver, the Congress government was pressuring farmers for repayment of loans through the bankers, Rama Rao alleged. So far, around 200 farmers committed suicide across the state since the Congress came to power. It’s high time for the government to come to the rescue of farmers by paying compensation for crop loss ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per acre apart from providing Rs 500 bonus and Rythu Bandhu aid to farmers, he said.

Rama Rao appealed to farmers not to take their lives and told them to be bold as former chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and BRS were with them and would fight for them against the Congress government.