TDP demands 40,000 compensation per acre

Karimnagar: Telugu Desam Party district president Ambati Joji Reddy demanded that the government should bail out the farmers, who faced severe loss due to the unexpected rains in the district for the past three days.

In a statement released here on Monday, Joji Reddy said standing crops in thousands of acres in many parts of the districts were damaged due to the heavy rains. The hopes of several farmers, who expected good yield, were dashed to ground due to crop damage.

Cotton, maize, papaya, pulses, paddy and mango crops that have been cultivated in thousands of acres in the erstwhile Karimnagar district were affected severely. Besides crops, the farmers incurred loss from the death of poultry.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao even said a single word to console the farmers and the newly elected MLAs too did not visit and tried to estimate the loss by interacting with the farmers, who voted for them, he criticised.

The officials after conducting a detailed survey should estimate the accurate loss along with submitting the report to the government to bail out the farmers by paying a compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre as early as possible, Joji Reddy demanded.

He further demanded that the government should also help tenant farmers, who takes loans from private money lenders for high rates of interest. The government must pay compensation directly to them instead of paying to the land owners, he added.