Oppn seeks measures to mitigate drought situation

Uravakonda MLA Y Visweswara Reddy contends that while the total drought-hit mandals are 500, the State govt has declared only 359

Hyderabad: The YSR Congress party urged the State government to immediately take steps to address severe and unprecedented drought situation which had hit the agriculture sector badly. Participating in a discussion in the Assembly on Tuesday, YSRCP Uravakonda MLA Y Visweswara Reddy said that though 500 mandals were reeling under extreme drought situation, the government after too much filtering had notified only 359 mandals as drought-prone areas in two phases.

When 400 farmers had committed suicide the government had notified that only 45 farmers had committed suicide in the State, he said. Reddy said the State’s growth rate has been put at an impressive double digit. But, the State government itself has admitted in the socio-economic survey for 2015-16 that the agriculture sector in the State has been in doldrums.

The net sown area has come down during the last year resulting in fall in agriculture production, which registered a loss of 30 lakh metric tonnes of food grains, he added. The State government which claims to make agriculture profitable has only allocated only 6.82 per cent for agriculture in the budget for the current financial year.

Similarly, even allocation for irrigation has been only 7 per cent, he pointed out. He criticised the government for not doing enough to ensure better Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers. Visweswara Reddy said, “The MSP for groundnut, paddy and cotton has registered only a nominal increase. But, the production input has gone up drastically. Yet, the State government did not bother to represent to the Centre to hike the MSP to save the farmers from falling in debt traps.”