VIJAYAWADA: Agriculture Mission vice-chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy said that the YSRC government was working to resolve the issues brought up by Konaseema farmers regarding a crop holiday.
The farmers mainly cultivate paddy in Konaseema in the Kharif season and were raising concerns over low non-remunerative prices. They demanded a huge increase in the minimum support price paddy, but in vain. The Konaseema Rythu Parirakshana Samiti then decided to shun paddy cultivation over an estimated 40,000 acres.
Ministers, collector Himanshu Shukla and officials were conducting talks with the farmers to withdraw the crop holiday decision.
Nagi Reddy said the government was committed for the welfare of farmers. He urged the people not to believe the provocative statements of Opposition leaders N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, who he said were “politically rejected.”
He refuted the allegations of Naidu who held Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy responsible for the crop holiday and objected to the proposed tour of Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan to Konaseema. He said the Opposition leaders were conspiring against the government.
Nagi Reddy said the Chief Minister had fulfilled 96 per cent of his poll promises.
He had the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had credited crores directly into bank accounts of farmers for agriculture and associated sectors in the past three years. besides providing nine hours of free electricity to farmers and implemented free insurance too. He stated that 133.53 lakh tonnes of paddy produced in AP in 2021-22 which is 11 lakh tonnes higher than previous years.
He recalled that the Naidu government had implemented Section 30 in Konaseema and suppressed farmer agitations when they announced crop holiday. He assured that the Agriculture Mission would take up any issue of Konaseema farmers to the notice of the Chief Minister and resolve them.
Listing out the promises made by Naidu before coming to power, Nagi Reddy said the TD chief has cheated the farmers without fulfilling them. He asked why Pawan Kalyan hadn’t question Naidu over the unfulfilled promises.
