Kurnool: Sugarcane farmers, who had supplied cane to sugar mills in Andhra Pradesh, are waiting in vain to get back their dues, amounting to Rs 2,000 crores.
Though the government had released Rs 30 crores to be paid on priority basis to the cane growers, the same amount has been used to pay the salaries of the staff, said Bojja Dasarath Reddy, president of All-India Farmers’ Association (AIFA).
Mr Reddy, who had been spearheading the cause of sugar cane farmers, said that government promised to make allocations for farmers in a separate Budget called Agriculture Budget.
Referring to Rayalaseema districts, which have been reeling under successive droughts, Mr Reddy said that Bengal gram is grown in large extent of lands in the region. The government had agreed to buy only 30 quintals per acre from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,500.
Mr Reddy said that as drought conditions have been prevailing , the farmer-friendly government must come forward to buy Bengal gram, without fixing any quota per acre. He said the government should buy all the produce that the farmers offer to sell, without fixing ceilings.
He said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had assured farmers in Kadapa that he would revive the Chennur sugar factory. “We welcome the move but he should spell out his priorities first in mitigating the hardships faced by the farmers,” he said.
Dasarath Reddy demanded Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to take steps to allocate funds for the completion of Gundrevula reservoir and Siddeswaram weir in Kurnool district if he has any concern for the farmers in the region.
He said that both the projects were conceived by former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
