The Hindu : Drought relief tardy, says BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Drought relief tardy, says BJP

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH Feb. 8. The measures taken by the State Government for alleviating the misery of drought-hit farmers were tardy, alleged the BJP State president, Chilakam Ramachandra Reddy, on Saturday and demanded taking up of drought relief measures on a war-footing.

Presiding over the BJP State Executive meeting here, Mr. Reddy said the Centre extended a financial assistance of Rs. 174 crores and six lakh tonnes of rice to the State. He urged the Centre to sanction additional aid for providing succour to farmers, in view of the continuing drought conditions. He urged the Central and State Governments to waive interest on bank loans for the rabi season too, apart from the kharif season.

Proper implementation of crop insurance and payment of compensation for all the farmers who incurred crop losses was also demanded. Mr. Ramachandra Reddy sought enhancement of budgetary outlay for the agriculture and power sectors. He sought extension of the Velugu scheme for the poorer sections and all types of artisans, besides constituting all-party committees for monitoring the scheme.

The State BJP chief appealed to the Central Government not to include agriculture in the purview of income tax, reduce duties on power tillers, drip irrigation, sprinklers, tractors and other agricultural tools and waive interest on bank loans during the rabi season. The drought-affected farmers were facing untold misery due to the haphazard power supply and proper power supply for four hours a day remained a `dream' despite the State Government's promises to ensure nine-hour power supply for ryots, he alleged.

Asserting that the three-year NDA rule of the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, furthered development and public welfare, he said the `Sasyasyamala yatra' aimed at utilisation of Godavari waters and demanding expeditious completion of pending irrigation projects succeeded in creating awareness among people.He called upon partymen to identify the mandal and village-wise problems and strive for resolving them by taking them up with officials concerned. The Union Minister of State for Railways, B. Dattatreya, the former BJP president, Bangaru Lakshman, the national secretary, L. Ganesan, the Southern States' in charge, Venugopala Reddy, the Floor Leader in the Assembly, N. Indrasena Reddy, the national executive member, P.V. Chalapathi Rao, the zonal in charge, N. Thulasi Reddy, the district president, A. Harinath Reddy, the former MP, Janga Reddy, the former MLA, V. Sriramulu, and several leaders took part.

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