VIJAYAWADA
Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan said Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) stood in the third position in farmer suicides and second in suicides by tenant farmers due to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s negligence in solving their problems. He alleged that 3,000 farmers killed themselves in the last three years due to distress..
The farmers took agricultural lands on lease and had to pay exorbitant rates of interest on loans which they were forced to take from private lenders. The mounting debt burden and the vagaries of the market left a large number of the beleaguered farmers with no option except to end their lives, he said.
“Clearly, the YSRC government is responsible for their tales of sorrow. As the farmers have little hope of help coming their way, I have decided to personally come to their rescue to the extent possible,” he observed.
Aid given away
Addressing a public meeting as part of Koulu Rythu Bharosa Yatra, during which he distributed financial assistance of ₹1 lakh each to the families of 35 farmers who committed suicide in recent years, at Chintalapudi in Eluru district on Saturday, Mr. Kalyan said nearly 80% of the farmers in A.P. were tenant farmers who were leading a hand-to-mouth existence and the YSRCP government did nothing to solve the crisis in which they had been languishing.
He said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should make field visits to know the root cause of the problems faced by the farmers but he would not reach out to them as he was least bothered about their plight. The farmers were not even getting assistance from out of the CM Relief Fund, he said.
“Since somebody should help the farmers and the government turned a blind eye to their woes, I have come forward to make a personal contribution, for which I created a corpus in the party (JSP). The government and YSRC leaders will obviously not appreciate my gesture to the farmers but I am not looking for a pat on the back from them. I will do whatever I can personally and from my party side,” he asserted.
‘Road dug up’
Meanwhile, JSP leaders took strong objection to the digging of the road that leads to Dharmajigudem village ahead of his visit to console the families of some farmers who committed suicide, alleging that it was intended to throw Mr. Kalyan’s tour out of gear.
JSP leader Nadendla Manohar happened to come across the road-digging by some workers and stopped it. He told The Hindu that the contractor who was getting the road dug up with the help of an earth-mover pleaded ignorance.
Incidentally, Mr Kalyan participated in road repairs at Rajamahendravaram and Puttaparthi last October as a mark of protest against the government’s negligence in maintaining the roads in good condition.
The roads were refurbished overnight. In fact, the government officials had said that there was no permission for Mr. Kalyan to do the patchwork but he went ahead with the protests.
