Hyderabad: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was unable to live up to his promise of April 13, 2017, of providing farmers free fertilisers. “This shows he has scant regard for his promises,” he alleged.
In an open letter to Chief Minister, He said the shortage was more pronounced in Nalgonda district where the paddy sowing season is coming to an end. “Farmers need to apply urea 20 to 25 days after planting paddy. Even cotton, which is at the flowering stage, needs complex and urea together. But there has been a shortage of fertilisers for 20 days, leading to difficulties for farmers. They are being asked to make do with just one or two bags when they need 20 to 30 bags,”
Identifying the areas with acute shortage of the fertiliser, he wrote, “The ayacut areas of Nagarjunasagar like Suryapet, Kodad, Huzurnagar Assembly constituencies are having difficulty in getting urea. Owing to shortage of rains, lesser availability of water in Nagarjunasagar canals farmers reduced the area under paddy but still they are short of urea. The farmers are being forced to wait outside cooperative societies and private fertiliser shops.”
The shortage is there in CM’s own district and in the Dubbak Assembly constituency. “Farmers are worried that the shortage of fertilisers could lead to fall in crop production but the ministers and MLAs are not bothered. The only solution that the government gloats about seems to be giving Rythu Bandhu,” he wrote.
The government should have a proper plan but lack of policy has left the Telangana agriculture sector in dire straits, Revanth Reddy said.
