Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Govt. fails to tackle drought: DCC chief

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR AUG. 17. The president of District Congress Committee, A. Venkatarami Reddy, has alleged that the State Government has failed in tackling the severe drought conditions in the district and to extend any relief to people, particularly farmers. The Government has already declared 56 out of 63 mandals in the district drought-affected.

Talking to newspersons here on Saturday, he also criticised the elected representatives of the ruling party, particularly the legislators and members of Parliament, for not taking the actual position to the notice of the Government. He felt that the ruling party leaders should have exerted pressure on the Government to take up the necessary relief measures.

Disappointment on a large scale among the farming community was evident in the fact that they had volunteered to fight the Government for their problems on their own, without being led by any political party. He cited the farmers' agitation in Kanekal and Bommanahal areas as an example.

Mr. Venkatarami Reddy charged that the Government failed to guide farmers under the HLC ayacut properly and create awareness among them against raising paddy nurseries due to shortage of water this year. By doing so, the Government had, in fact, deceived farmers, he said.

He mentioned that the District Development Review Committee and Irrigation Advisory Board had not been convened for more than a year now. This alone would expose the ruling party leaders' sincerity in helping farmers, he said.

Extending total support to the agitating farmers, the DCC president said the Congress would resort to direct action if the farmers' problems were not solved. Further, he criticised the district administration for not implementing the contingency agriculture plan and alleged that it was restricted only to publicity.

Alleging large-scale irregularities in the distribution of input subsidy against groundnut crop loss during the last kharif season, Mr. Reddy stated that only about Rs. 30 crores had been disbursed so far against the total amount of Rs. 63.75 crores. The disbursement of crop insurance claims, which were settled in a haphazard manner, was yet to be commenced, he said.

The DCC president stated that there was no Government or administration functioning in the district and it was evident from the fact that the Kamabadur MRO's office was locked by the farmers for the last 12 days demanding input subsidy. A gap between the administration and the elected representatives was also evident clearly.

Further, Mr. Venkatarami Reddy stated that groundnut was sown only in about 4.2 lakh hectares against 6.9 lakh hectares normal coverage due to lack of rainfall. Even in the sown areas, the seed was not germinated at all in about 30,000 hectares. The germination was up to 50 per cent in the remaining area too.

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