Keep Promises to Farmers, or Face Agitation, KTR Warns Govt

Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, in a statement on Friday, demanded that the government stop “cheating” farmers and implement its promises. If government failed to keep its promises, the BRS will not hesitate to lead an agitation by farmers, he said.

“Why does the Chief Minister who talks about planning to spend Rs 1.5 lakh crore on Musi river shy away when it comes to keeping his promises to farmers? How is he able to find the funds for schemes from which he can make money and not for keeping his promises to farmers?” Rama Rao said.

He said the Congress and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy were clear in their election promise that the Rs 500 bonus would be paid to all varieties of paddy. But now, the government is saying bonus only for fine varieties of paddy. “Eighty per cent of paddy grown in the state is of the coarse varieties,” Rama Rao said.

He also said around 20 lakh farmers were yet to receive the promised Rs 2 lakh loan waiver, and despite the Kharif crop season coming to an end, there was no word on the promised Rythu Bharosa of Rs 7,500 per acre per crop season. “Revanth Reddy mocked the Rs 10,000 a year per acre paid by the KCR government and promised Rs 15,000 a year. Farmers are agitated that even the Rs 5,000 per acre for Kharif has not been given to them so far,” Rama Rao said.