Hyderabad: Voicing his strong opposition to the supply of power at free of cost to agriculture as well as waiver of farmers’ loans, Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said it would be better for the governments concentrate on supply of quality power. Addressing a gathering organised by “Raithu Nestam”, an agriculture magazine, on Sunday evening, Mr Venkaiah Naidu reminded both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments that Narendra Modi returned to power thrice in Gujarat state without announcing any free sops.
“In a bid to garner votes in elections, the political parties here have developed a competitive tendency of making announcements like waiver of loans and free power, but both are not good in the interest of farmers and governments,” he said. Mr Venkaiah Naidu said instead of supplying costly power to agriculturists free of cost and afterwards struggling to implement the scheme, governments should concentrate their energies in ensuring quality power to farmers to grow crops which will make them happy.
Referring to waiver of farms loans, the Union minister observed, “Fiscal discipline is the need of the hour, governments cannot do away with the old systems, it is better they provide good quality seeds, fertilisers, water and better prices for the agriculture produce instead of the loan waiver, it will be a burden on both the banks and governments and little impact on farmers,” Mr Venkaiah Naidu said.
