Farmers in 'distress' due to TDP-led government's 'inefficiency', says YSRCP leader

Visakhapatnam, Nov 5 (IANS) YSR Congress Party has alleged that all sections of people, including farmers in Andhra Pradesh, are in distress due to the coalition government's "indifference" and "inefficiency" in handling calamities.

Leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, Botsa Satyanarayana, told media persons here on Wednesday that the government has "totally failed" in handling relief for cyclone-affected farmers, and called the manner in which the enumeration was made "shoddy".

The former minister said that the questions raised by YSRCP president and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy are relevant, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has to be "blamed" for not paying the crop insurance and the input subsidy.

He stated that the government "failed" to protect farmers' interests, and when YS Jagan Mohan Reddy went to express solidarity with farmers, CM Naidu and his media started "propaganda".

Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday visited cyclone-affected areas of Krishna district and interacted with the farmers whose crops were damaged.

He demanded that the TDP-led coalition government implement crop insurance for all farmers.

Accusing the coalition government of adopting "anti-farmers policies", he said implementation of the crop insurance scheme will provide relief to farmers who suffer losses due to natural calamities.

He stated that the cyclone damaged crops over 15 lakh acres in the state. The farmers have suffered huge losses with damage to paddy crops on 11 lakh acres, Jagan said.

The YSRCP leader alleged that crop enumeration was not done properly to evade compensation. The enumeration was taken up in a hurry, and there are many riders, like paddy will not be procured for those who claim crop insurance.

Botsa Satyanarayna also slammed Chief Minister Naidu for his remarks on the Kasibugga temple stampede, which claimed nine lives on November 1.

The YSRCP leader termed CM Naidu's remarks as highly deplorable and said that he has "learnt no lessons from previous stampede incidents".

Stating that the temple is private property only shows his "indifference" towards humanity. "CM Naidu's governance, along with the attitude of his cadre, is irresponsible," the former minister said.

How can they be so "indifferent" towards the Kasibugga incident, he asked, saying that "the government did not learn any lessons from the Tirupati and Simhachalam incidents".

--IANS

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