Andhra Pradesh

Farmers take out cattle rally

Sangareddy: Farmers organised a cattle rally on Wednesday in Jherasangham and travelled through Bellapur, Rukmapur and Pulkurthi and reached Nyalkal mandal.

The cattle carried placards demanding enough fodder. The farmers demanded succour for families of farmers who had committed suicide. State president of farmer’s federation Manda Balramreddy and former legislator Kista Reddy addressed the rally. Kisan padayatra On July 29, four sugarcane farmers from Zaheerabad organised a ‘Kisan azadi padayatra’ to New Delhi. Farmers, mostly from the sugarcane belt of Zaheerabad and the neighbouring Jherasangam mandals of the district, participated.

They sought to highlight the plight of sugarcane farmers in the region who were affected by low prices and indifferent attitude of the sugar mill managements.

The four farmers-- Govinda Reddy of Buchnelly village, where a sugarcane farmer Vithal Reddy had committed suicide, Rajole Narayan Reddy, Ramulu and Vasanth Kumar reached Narayankhed and were expected to cross the border to Karnataka in a day or two.

Explaining the reason to name the padayatra as ‘Lal Plato Chalis Hazar,’ coordinator of the padayatra Sudhakar Patel told The Hindu that the number ‘chalis hazar’ denoted the umpteen number of farmers who had committed suicide in the country owing to high production costs and low prices of agricultural produce, while the other two words meant the need for a radical political struggle for freedom of the farmers.

Vasanth Kumar pointed out that farmers, particularly in Telangana areas, had spent Rs. 20,000 crore only on sinking borewells.The four-member team was expected top meet other farmer leaders on their way to New Delhi.

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