Lokesh urges Jagan to help drought-hit farmers

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam national general secretary Nara Lokesh has urged Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to come to the rescue of farmers as they are “facing trouble in raising crops due to lack of rainfall.”

In an open letter addressed to the CM here on Monday, Lokesh urged the government to release the list of drought-affected mandals immediately and send a report to the Centre seeking its help, cancellation of farm loans and relief for crop loss to the affected farmers.

He said AP witnessed the worst drought in the last 100 years and the state registered the lowest rainfall this season. He slammed the state government for not taking up the issue of drought in several mandals to the notice of the Centre. “How can the farmers raise crops in rabi season as they are facing trouble due to lack of rain in the kharif season itself.”

He flayed the state government for not releasing water for crops even as some irrigation projects were having water stored in them. “While crops are drying up, some projects are having no storage of water at all.”

Lokesh said that when TD chief Chandrababu Naidu was raising such issues affecting the people and farmers, he was sent to jail by the government.

He said farmers were hitting the roads and staging stirs for water in areas falling under Penna, Tungabhadra canals as also in Krishna delta area. “Crops like paddy, chillies, cotton and groundnut were damaged. When some farmers were trying to get water from borewells they were unable to do so due to the power cut.”