Amaravati: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu urges govt to rescue cyclone-hit ryots

Amaravati: TDP national president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday slammed the YSRCP government for not trying to give advance warnings to the farmers to reduce cyclone damage on the crops in the state.

Naidu asserted that it was the responsibility of the government to go to the rescue of the farmers and the poor families who were badly hit by the Nivar cyclone. There was no information gathering with the involvement of the meteorological department and ISRO to alert the farmers and the general public in the cyclone-affected areas.

Addressing a meeting of the party leaders, the TDP chief said that the YSRCP regime had got enough funds to give paper advertisements to their own media but not to pay compensation to the farmers when they suffered losses in natural calamities. With its failures and inefficiencies, this government was putting the farmers and all sections of people to unbearable suffering.

Naidu said that recently, reports of damage due to heavy rains were submitted to the Central teams. Now, once again, the Nivar cyclone had hit the state and submerged crops in over 5 lakh acre in 300 mandals in 10 districts. Paddy, cotton, chilli, tobacco, groundnut, banana, mango and other fruit orchards were completely and partially damaged.

The farmers were left in a state of shock, he said. The TDP chief stressed the need for extending immediate relief to the affected farmers so as to enable them to go for rabi crops without major problems.

The Chief Minister and the ministers were asking the farmers to wait till February for compensation, which reflected this government's total negligence of the farmers' plight, he said while observing that the ruling party leaders have no awareness to monitor the water levels in reservoirs.