Andhra Pradesh

Regularise services of extension officers: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 26. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticised the State Government's move to do away with 6,000-odd Multi-Purpose Extension Officers (MPEOs), who were recruited on a temporary basis by the previous TDP regime and sought their services be regularised.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, the BJP State general secretary, K. Laxman, said the Government had decided, at this crucial juncture, not to continue their services, even as, the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, repeatedly claimed that his administration was pro-farmer and an additional 65-lakh hectares would be brought under cultivation during the next five years.

Government `insincere'

The move to terminate the services of the MPEOs, who played a key role in the formation of Rythu Mithra groups, on the `pretext' that their continuation would cost the exchequer Rs. 3.5 crore annually, showed how sincere the Government was towards agriculture, he remarked, adding that salaries and arrears of the MPEOs were also not paid since the Congress came to power.

Help to farmers

He said the MPEOs since the last two years helped in improving scientific knowledge of the farming community.

He claimed that there was an extension officer for every 600/ 700 hectares in the neighbouring States as against 1,000 hectares in Andhra Pradesh, at present.

If the Government went ahead with its decision, there would be one extension officer for every 4,500 hectares.

He also sought filling up of the other vacancies like Agricultural Extension Officers (AEOs) in view of the Government plans to almost double the area under cultivation in the next five years.

The BJP's Rythanga Poratha Samithi would include this issue also in its programme, he said.

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