Irked turmeric farmers protest at MP Arvind's residence

Nizamabad: The irked turmeric farmers on Sunday venting their ire against BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri for failing to prevail upon the Central government in establishing turmeric board in the district.

The turmeric farmers dumped their stocks in front of the MP's residence. It is learnt that during March 2019, the BJP MP had vowed to establish a turmeric board in the district after being elected as the MP and had even signed on a non-judicial (bond) stamp paper in this regard. It is reported that during the last three years, the MP managed to get an allocation of Rs 1.92 crore for nearly 1 lakh turmeric farmers in the district.

Responding to this, the farmers while holding the copies of RTI on funds allocation said that if these funds were divided between the farmers, it works out to less than Rs 200 per farmer. The BJP MP deceived the farmers with his false assurance and distributed a bond paper, the turmeric ryots fumed, they added. The farmers pointed out that it was K Kavitha after being elected as Nizamabad MP in 2014, who took up the fight of turmeric farmers to Delhi.

As per the RTI details shared by the former MP on Thursday, for the year 2020-21, Rs 1,18,71,000 was allocated out of which Rs 75 lakhs was assistance towards boilers and Rs. 43.71 lakhs was for the assistance towards turmeric polishers.

On May 4, TRS leader and MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Wednesday came down heavily on BJP-led Central government. Addressing a press conference, Kavitha alleged that there has ne no financial assistance from the Central government. She lamented the attitude of Central government over paddy procurement in Telangana. She said that MP Arvind has failed to allocate funds for his own constituency. She questioned him over the proposed Turmeric Board in the State. She said that the funds that was brought by the MP Arvind doesn't even come for any basic needs of farmers in Nizamabad. She also slammed State BJP chief for unnecessarily hold Praja Sangrama Yatra which doesn't do good for people but only political mileage for BJP.

Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao came down heavily on BJP leaders, accusing him of spreading misinformation to denigrate the image of the TRS government. Speaking to media persons in Hanumakonda on Tuesday, the Minister wondered whether there was any use with the four BJP Lok Sabha members as they did nothing for the State.

The BJP MPs especially the State president Bandi Sanjay need to accept that Telangana has made strides on all fronts. "All the top 10 villages selected as Adarsh Villages under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), Union Ministry of Rural Development, are from Telangana. In fact, 19 of the top 20 villages are from Telangana," Errabelli said. This apart, Telangana also topped the chart in ODF, sanitation, drinking water supply under Mission Bhagiratha. Telangana also stood first in conducting 100 per cent audits of the local bodies, and declared as the 'National Lead State' by the Central Government for the second consecutive year, the minister said.

The BJP-led Central government which recognized the rapid development in Telangana didn't give incentives to the State, he said, criticising Bandi Sanjay for not fighting for the cause of the region. "If Bandi Sanjay has any concern towards the poor, he has to ask the Centre to increase the funding to NREGS. The BJP MPs also need to ask their high command about the assurances given to Telangana under the AP Reorganisation Act-2014. "Why don't the BJP MPs fight for national status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP)? The MPs have to lobby for the justifiable share in the Krishna and Godavari waters," Errabelli said.