Agriculture would be accorded an important place

Akiveedu, West Godavari District: Leader of the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly and YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asserted that he would stand by prawn and fish farmers, who suffered beyond description over the past four years under Chandrababu Naidu’s apathetic rule. The YSRCP chief was addressing a massive gathering at Akiveedu in West Godavari district, on day 171 of his mass contact initiative, Praja Sankalpa Yatra. He said that agriculture would be accorded an important place in YSRCP’s scheme of things.

YS Jagan said that the YSRCP government would set up cold storage and food processing units along the coast line to help prawn farmers. YS Jagan said that power will be supplied at Rs. 1.50 per unit to them and also assured ancillary units of aqua farming of power at Rs. 5.00 per unit. He also promised the farmers of support through a proper pricing mechanism and remarked that the government would stand by them all along. The middlemen system which took a toll on farmers’ profits would be thoroughly regulated, YS Jagan said.

The YSRCP Chief said that farmers came to him and said that Chandrababu Naidu stood in stark contrast to the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy. His father was a symbol of trust and credibility, who ushered in an epoch of welfare governance, they said. They told him that under the late Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy projects worth 800 crores were set in place. When he was told about the crisis of drinking water supply, he initiated projects immediately. On the other hand, under Chandrababu Naidu a single road was not laid in the district. The drinking water in these parts looked like sugar cane juice in colour. It was as contaminated as that. Lakes, ponds and water bodies everywhere had become saline under Chandrababu Naidu‘s regime and even bore wells yielded salt water, farmers, and people everywhere told him, YS Jagan pointed out. One can imagine the condition of this region which had water everywhere by the fact that people took to the streets in protest asking for drinking water under TDP. The ruling party leaders and followers had turned all the freshwater lakes and water bodies into prawn farming ponds.

YS Jagan assured farmers and all those connected with agriculture and aqua farming sector that he would ensure that this sector was once again restored to its former glory. The position it enjoyed under the late Dr YS Rajashekhar Reddy would be restored once again, he assured. The YSRCP chief said that he would stand by the farmer and regulate the system of middlemen.