Bharatiya Janata Party State president Bandi Sanjay on Monday demanded Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao call an all-party meeting to discuss various issues that are cropping up due to lockdown clamped to contain coronavirus.
He criticized the government for not taking necessary steps to help the farmers who have incurred heavy loss due to the damage to standing crops from untimely rains that battered for the last three days. Many farmers have also lost their lives due to the lightning strikes in several districts.
The BJP chief charged the officials with having an indifferent attitude towards farmers, migrant labour and the poor who are facing hardships following the lockdown. “It is unfortunate that the Cabinet meeting held on Sunday did not discuss the farmers’ issues and untimely rains. There are poor people dependent on their daily wages and it is strange that the Cabinet instead of discussing their welfare had asked members of woman SHGs to repay their loans and people to pay their property tax,” said Mr. Sanjay.
Demanding that the government reverse these decisions, he expressed concern over the Revenue and Panchayat Raj staff being denied incentives that were being given to health, police and municipal staff, since they were also in the forefront in the fight against coronavirus.
He found fault with the government for announcing a cut in the pensions and wanted the sanitary workers too be taken care of as they have been ignored so far as also the construction sector workers despite the Centre allowing extension of financial assistance of up to ₹1500 to each worker from the building cess fund. The payment has been cleared by the Labour Board yet the government has not taken a step forward. The field assistants serving in the villages should be immediately drafted into work during this hour of need, the party president added.
