Telangana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar has demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao immediately implement the loan waiver scheme for farmers for up to ₹1 lakh each totalling an estimated ₹27,500 crore as was announced before the 2018 Assembly elections on Friday.
He also urged him to withdraw his directive to the farmers not to raise paddy crop, procure every single grain that was produced as was promised and implement the PM ‘Fasal Beema scheme providing insurance by paying ₹413.50 crore of the State Government’s share to the Centre’.
In an open letter to Mr. Rao, a copy of which was released to the media, the BJP leader said the assurance given to the farmers to provide free fertilizer should be adhered to and procurement centres for maize be initiated to save farmers from middlemen. The BJP leader informed the Chief Minister that during the course of his ‘padayatra’ in the districts of Medak, Rangareddy and Nizamabad, the farmers voluntarily came forward to explain their problems and his party would stand by them.
About 42 lakh farmers would have benefited if the Government took up the loan waiver scheme but so far it had waived loans for up to ₹25,000 for 2.96 lakh farmers to the tune of ₹408 crore and had kept silent about the remaining loans. Farmers had been extensively cultivating maize with the minimum support price being ₹1,870 per tonne, however, the price being offered was ₹1,600 per tonne only.
Hence, the Government should intervene before the entire produce came to the markets and procure the lot before the middlemen make merry. Farmers had lost as much as ₹960 crore in the last three years as they had been unable to benefit from the Centre’s farm insurance scheme for the losses suffered and sought the Government share to be complied with soon.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar charged that about 28,500 farmer suicides had been recorded as per official statistics including 18,845 in 2018-19 and and 19,351 in 2019-20. The Government should reach out to the farmers and take steps to prevent such tragedies by boosting their confidence.
Another issue highlighted was the Dharani portal, which, he said, should be made free of errors and pattadar passbooks should be released. About 23 lakh acres had been placed in the prohibited zone and this had to be looked into, he added.
