TRS Govt trying to foil 'Chalo Assembly' rally: Uttam

Hyderabad : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the TRS Government was trying to foil the 'Chalo Assembly' rally to be held on Friday.

Addressing a press conference in Siranpalli village of Navipet mandal in Nizamabad district on Thursday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the police took many Congress leaders and activists into preventing custody across the State while others were being intimidated. He warned the government of dire consequences if it tries to foil an agitation which is being conducted in a democratic manner. He said that the Congress party has already announced about the 'Chalo Assembly' agitation. However, TRS Government is using illegal means to sabotage the protest. He demanded that all activists of Congress party be released immediately.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the 'Chalo Assembly' rally would not be a show of strength by Congress party, but it would be an expression of protest against the failure of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao in honouring the promises that he made on the floor of the House. He said the agitation was aimed at pressuuring the Chief Minister to fulfil the promise of State Government paying interest that got accumulated on farm loans due to faulty implementation of crop loan waiver scheme. He said split of crop loan waiver did not benefit the farmers and they are still suffering. He said that the Congress party would have supported if TRS Government would have done anything good for farmers. However, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his government has been doing injustice with farmers for the last three-and-a-half years.

The TPCC chief said that of more than 3,500 farmers who committed suicide during TRS regime, most of them were cotton farmers. He said that the KCR Government was refusing to respond to the caution being given by Congress party to help the cotton farmers in the State. He said cotton was grown on nearly 48 lakh acres across Telangana this year and crops spread over lakhs of acres were damaged due to heavy rains. He said nowhere in the State, cotton farmers were being paid the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 4,320 per quintal. He said that the government should not only ensure procurement of cotton at the MSP, but also pay compensation of Rs. 25,000 per acre to the farmers who lost their crop due to recent rains. He also demanded compensation of Rs. 10,000 per acre for maize farmers and Rs. 15,000 per acre for paddy farmers who lost their crops.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that while many States in the country were paying additional bonus on the MSPs, the TRS Government has totally failed to make arrangements for the procurement of crops and payment of remunerative prices. He also slammed the BJP and TRS Governments for their failure to pay insurance claims to affected farmers. He informed that of about 7.20 lakh farmers who paid premiums under crop insurance schemes, not a single farmer got any insurance amount so far. He said instead of focussing on foiling protest by opposition parties, TRS Government should concentrate on bailing out farmers from the present crisis. Alleging that KCR is using all means to crush the Congress party, he said that the Chief Minister should display same aggressiveness in dealing with the agrarian crisis.

He said that the Congress party would come to power in 2019 elections and it would waive off crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh in single instalment. He said that the Congress party would rescue the agriculture sector from the crisis by extending required help to the farmers.