KCR blames Opposition parties for ignoring agriculture during their rules
The marathon-debate which continued for over four-and-a-half hours went haywire as members made allegations and counter-allegations on farmers' suicides. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday said both Congress and Telugu Desam parties were responsible for farmers’ suicides in the state. He said that both the parties ruled the state for decades and neglected the agriculture sector leading to suicides by farmers. The TRS government cannot be held responsible for farmers’ suicides since it came to power only five months ago, he added.
“Opposition parties are trying to project as if suicides by farmers are a new thing which never happened in the past. As per National Crime Records Bureau, as many as 35,593 farmers committed suicide in undivided AP between 1985 and 2012, while the national figure was 2,84,694 suicides. A suicide committed under any circumstances is a matter of grave concern,” Mr Rao said while participating in the short debate held on farmers’ suicides in the assembly on Monday.
The marathon-debate which continued for over four-and-a-half hours went haywire as members made allegations and counter-allegations on farmers’ suicides.
The government clarified that it is yet to receive complete details on farmers’ suicides even as Opposition parties claimed that nearly 400 farmers had committed suicide in Telangana during the five-month rule of TRS government due to crop failure on account of lack of power, poor monsoon and mounting debts.
The government maintained that only 49 farmers had committed suicide so far as per reports submitted by district collectors for whom nearly Rs 57 lakh ex-gratia was already paid.
Taking a dig at the 10-year rule of the Congress government, Agriculture Minister Mr Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said hundreds of farmers committed suicide in the state even after good monsoons at that time.
Citing statistics, Mr Reddy informed the House that 816 farmers committed suicide in 2004-05, 452 in 2005-06, 360 in 2006-07, 275 in 2007-08, 259 in 2008-09, 196 in 2009-10, 130 in 2010-11, 151 in 2011-12, 116 in 2012-13 and 66 in 2013-14.
Mr Reddy said that the Telangana government is committed to the welfare of farmers and it is for this reason the government has waived crop loans amounting to nearly Rs 17,000 crore despite all odds.
He said the government will prove that agriculture is not ‘dandaga’ (waste), but ‘pandaga’(festival) for farmers indirectly taking a hit at TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu’s reported remarks during his regime (1995-2004) regarding this.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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