Hyderabad: PCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday demanded that the state government pay compensation to farmers who lost their crops in the recent heavy rains.
He was speaking to mediapersons after leading a Congress delegation including AICC secretary R.C. Kunthia, to Udithyal, Nandaram and Gunded villages of Balanagar mandal in Mahbubnagar district. They interacted with the affected farmers and saw the damaged cotton, maize and other crops.
Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said cotton crops spread over lakhs of acres were damaged by rain. Maize grown on about 12 lakh acres also suffered damage.
He demanded that the government pay Rs 25,000 per acre to affected cotton farmers and Rs 10,000 per acre for maize farmers. He said demanded Rs 15,000 per acre for paddy farmers.
He said against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,320 per quintal, cotton farmers were being forced to sell their produce for Rs 2,700. Maize was being purchased for '800 per quintal against its MSP of Rs 1,425. He said this was being done in active connivance by government officials and middlemen.
He said farmers had paid over Rs 1500 crore towards insurance premium last year but had received no compensation. He said the Centre and state governments had completely neglected the farm sector.
