Congress MP and Telangana Congress working president A. Revanth Reddy has demanded that the government give compensation of ₹ 20,000 per acre to farmers, given the severity of the crop damage due to the heavy rains during the last one week.
In an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, he said the government should immediately release ₹ 1,000 crore for this purpose and save the farmers. He said agriculture fields in lakhs of acres in Warangal, Bhupalapally, Mulugu, Jangaon, Bhadadri Kothagudem, Mahabubabad and Siddipet districts were totally damaged while farmers in Karimnagar, Nizamabad and other North Telangana districts faced partial damage. The floods also led to land erosion and fields are now filled with sand dunes.
Mr. Reddy criticised the government for not reaching out to the farmers so far despite realising the extent of damage done. He said it was irresponsible on the part of Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy to say that there was no crop damage and advised the Minister to speak to the farmers to assess the damage. He said the Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana has not benefited the farmers as the State government has failed to pay its share. He said last year farmers lost ₹ 960 crore from the insurance companies despite paying their share as the State government failed to pay its share of ₹ 513.5 crore.
This year the scheme itself has been abolished and no new scheme has been introduced. So it was the responsibility of the government to compensate the farmers, he said. “What are the much touted Rythu Bandhu Samitis doing when the farmers are in distress?” he asked.
