Anantapur: Govt urged to release input subsidy to farmers says CPI Ramakrishna

Anantapur: The State government has not sanctioned even a single rupee of compensation for agricultural and horticultural crops damaged due to floods during kharif season, said CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna on Sunday.

Thus the government ignored providing input subsidy to farmers, he said in a statement. "The purpose of input subsidy is to provide relief to farmers who have lost their crops due to drought or floods or any other reason by releasing subsidy on the expenditure incurred during the immediate agricultural season," he pointed out.

More than 48 mandals in Anantapur district were hit by heavy rains and floods during kharif 2020, triggering migrations and suicides. Along with groundnut, paddy, cotton, chillies, onion and other cash crops, horticulture crops such as mango, banana, papaya, pomegranate, sweet lime and acid lime were also affected.

The government is not showing any interest in handing out assistance to farmers, but is all too willing to release funds to clear the bills of contractors, he alleged. This shows the government's priorities. The State government had failed to release its share and hence the input subsidy was put on hold.

He said the government should give paramount importance to release the subsidy amount and take remedial measures to expedite the assessment of crop damage. He said for non-irrigated crops, Rs 4,000 per acre should be paid to farmers.

For irrigated crops, Rs 6,000 per acre should be paid and for perennial crops, Rs 8,000 per acre should be paid, demanded the CPI State secretary.