Mr. Raghavulu, accompanied by the party Central Committee member T. Veerabhadram and district secretary P Sudarshan Rao, inspected the withered crops at M. Venkatayapalem and Walya Tanda in Khammam rural mandal.
The farmers narrated their tale of woe and the magnitude of crop damage suffered by them on account of the continuous dry spell, scarcity of water and erratic power supply.
Mangi Satyam, a tenant farmer of Walya Tanda, showed his withered paddy field where he allowed cattle to graze. He told the delegation that his entire labour and investment of Rs. 2 lakh private loan had gone in vain due to the withering of a major part of his paddy and cotton crop barring a minor component of chilli crop.
Talking to mediapersons later, Mr. Raghavulu lamented that the farmers had already incurred a huge loss to an extent of nearly Rs 12,000 per acre on account of the dry spell and the apathy of the government.
“Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is busy shuttling between Hyderabad and New Delhi on the pretext of tackling the ‘Sakala Janula Samme' leaving distressed farmers in the lurch,” he charged.
Cotton, paddy and other crops had been damaged in over 30 lakh acres spread in more than 450 mandals across the State, he pointed out and alleged that the State government was depriving affected farmers of compensation.
He demanded that the government immediately declare all the affected mandals drought-hit areas and secure adequate compensation to the farmers from the Central government.
(Source : The Hindu)
