HYDERABAD: Farmers in Telangana are on a warpath as they allege that the state government is dodging to declare drought situation in the state. Telangana Raithu Joint Action Committee said it would launch a massive agitation across the state next week to protest against the TRS government's lack of interest in declaring drought-hit mandals.
"The protest is going to be wide-spread. The TRS government, in its bid to project the state as revenue-rich, is ignoring the ground reality. But, it costs the distressed farmers heavily," said Ravi Kumar Kanneganti, steering committee member of Telangana Raithu JAC. He added that over 1,600 framers in the state had committed suicide.
The Raithu JAC convened a round-table, on Wednesday, on agriculture, where the farmer leaders resolved to launch the agitation against the government dithering on announcement of drought-hit mandals in Telangana.
Ironically, on the same day, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, convened a review meeting on drought but didn't decide on the drought-hit mandals. At the meeting held his camp office in Hyderabad, the CM asked chief secretary Rajiv Sharma to finalize the number of drought-hit mandals as per central guidelines.
According to the report submitted by the committee headed by the chief secretary, 225 of the 459 agriculture mandalas have been identified as drought-hit. The committee had submitted its report to the CM in the first week of October. While the state government chose to sit on the report, the centre - on November 10 - announced Rs. 1,540 crore in drought-related aid for the neighbouring Karnataka, which sought an assistance of Rs. 3,050 crore in September.
Among other states that have sought central relief are Odisha, which has sought about Rs. 3,500 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs. 2,400 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs. 4,000 crore and Maharashtra sought Rs. 4,330 crore. According to official records, 307 districts across the county have been declared drought-hit and 20 states, including Andhra Pradesh, had sent their reports on crop losses by October 15.
The greatest concern is that, if the Andhra Pradesh state government fails to declare drought-hit mandals in time, the farmers of Telangana would not get input subsidy from the centre for the crop losses and their crop loans would not be eligible for renewal for the next year. Without getting their loan accounts renewed, the farmers would not be eligible to claim crop insurance.
The TRS government, on the other hand, seems to have chosen to downplay the drought situation in the state as it is trying raise money for development works through market borrowings. Showing revenue surplus, the state government has even requested the centre to relax borrowing limits so that it can go for extra borrowings. The declaration of drought situation might hit credit-worthiness of the state.
"There are certain issues to be looked into before declaring drought-hit mandals. The government, however, will take a call on the issue very soon," said agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy.
"The protest is going to be wide-spread. The TRS government, in its bid to project the state as revenue-rich, is ignoring the ground reality. But, it costs the distressed farmers heavily," said Ravi Kumar Kanneganti, steering committee member of Telangana Raithu JAC. He added that over 1,600 framers in the state had committed suicide.
The Raithu JAC convened a round-table, on Wednesday, on agriculture, where the farmer leaders resolved to launch the agitation against the government dithering on announcement of drought-hit mandals in Telangana.
Ironically, on the same day, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, convened a review meeting on drought but didn't decide on the drought-hit mandals. At the meeting held his camp office in Hyderabad, the CM asked chief secretary Rajiv Sharma to finalize the number of drought-hit mandals as per central guidelines.
According to the report submitted by the committee headed by the chief secretary, 225 of the 459 agriculture mandalas have been identified as drought-hit. The committee had submitted its report to the CM in the first week of October. While the state government chose to sit on the report, the centre - on November 10 - announced Rs. 1,540 crore in drought-related aid for the neighbouring Karnataka, which sought an assistance of Rs. 3,050 crore in September.
Among other states that have sought central relief are Odisha, which has sought about Rs. 3,500 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs. 2,400 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs. 4,000 crore and Maharashtra sought Rs. 4,330 crore. According to official records, 307 districts across the county have been declared drought-hit and 20 states, including Andhra Pradesh, had sent their reports on crop losses by October 15.
The greatest concern is that, if the Andhra Pradesh state government fails to declare drought-hit mandals in time, the farmers of Telangana would not get input subsidy from the centre for the crop losses and their crop loans would not be eligible for renewal for the next year. Without getting their loan accounts renewed, the farmers would not be eligible to claim crop insurance.
The TRS government, on the other hand, seems to have chosen to downplay the drought situation in the state as it is trying raise money for development works through market borrowings. Showing revenue surplus, the state government has even requested the centre to relax borrowing limits so that it can go for extra borrowings. The declaration of drought situation might hit credit-worthiness of the state.
"There are certain issues to be looked into before declaring drought-hit mandals. The government, however, will take a call on the issue very soon," said agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy.
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