Jagan directs MPs to raise farmers’ plight in Parliament

Guntur: YSRCP president and former chief minister YS Jagan MohanReddy has instructed the party MPs to strongly raise the most urgent public issues of the state in the Parliament session beginning on Monday. He said the fight must be centred around the severe distress of farmers due to cyclone damage and the collapse of MSP across major crops, which has pushed the agriculture sector into a crisis. He expressed serious concern over the devastation caused by Cyclone Montha, which destroyed lakhs of acres of crops in coastal districts. Farmers who lost their entire harvest are facing unbearable financial pressure as neither the State nor the Centre has provided compensation. Adding to their suffering is the complete failure to ensure Minimum Support Price. He said that while the previous YSRCP government guaranteed MSP through RBKs and direct procurement, the present government has abandoned farmers, leaving them to be exploited by traders and middlemen. He said that MSP has fallen sharply across major crops including paddy, maize, black gram, cotton, red gram, banana, mirchi and mango, pushing farmers into extreme hardship. He demanded that MPs insist on emergency relief funds and immediate restoration of assured MSP procurement. Jagan said that free crop insurance, which was provided automatically and without premium under the previous YSRCP government, has now been denied, leaving farmers unprotected during natural calamities. Input subsidy is also not being provided. He said mirchi farmers were promised financial support but were deceived, and mango farmers were left helpless.

He directed MPs to strongly oppose the ongoing attempt to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in parts, warning that inviting private players to take over individual units is a dangerous path toward full privatisation.