Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Wednesday admitted to 409 farmers’ suicides in the past one year. Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said that though the government had initiated several measures for the welfare of farmers, 409 farmers had committed suicide from June 2, 2014, to June 24 this year.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Telugu Desam politburo member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy dismissed the government’s figures. While the Congress has alleged 1,300 farmers’ suicides, the TDP put the figure at 1,182 till date and promised to show proof.
Both the parties also demanded the government to increase the ex gratia from the present Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, besides giving full state support to the kin of the farmers’ families.
“No farmer should resort to taking extreme steps. The government has taken up several measures to check farmers’ suicides. So far, compensation as per GO 421 has been paid to the kin of 141 farmers,” Mr Srinivas Reddy said. Mr Srinivas Reddy said the state government had written to the Centre to treat farmers as a unit and ensure crop insurance coverage.
