Groundswell of support for dharnas

Hyderabad,
Nov 5: Buoyed by the tremendous response to the dharnas in protest against the
failure of TDP government in keeping up its promise of waiving loans of farmers
and women groups besides miserably failing to provide succour to the Hudhud
Cyclone affected people, YSR Congress has said that a strong anti-incumbency
wave is sweeping across State.

“Farmers,
women, weavers, pensioners, students, families of the cyclone affected families
have participated in the State-wide dharna programmes in large numbers to vent
their ire and disappointment against the TDP Government which did not waive the
farm and DWACRA loans while the cyclone hit north coastal Andhra has been
reeling under severe apathy from the official machinery,” Party senior leader
Ummareddy Venkateswarlu told reporters here on Wednesday.

The
response to the call given by our Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has
evoked stupendous response with all sections of the people actively
participating in the protest programme in 663 mandals and submitting memorandum
against the Government anti-people policies, he said adding that this is only
the beginning and more protests are in store if the State fails to change its
mindset.

In normal
course it would take some time for the anti-incumbency factor would set in but
for the TDP government, it has come in just five months as not a single poll
promise was implemented. Chandrababu Naidu, who began his padayatra in 2012 at
Anantapuram went on telling people not to repay the loans and do not pay
interest to the banks as his government would come to power and waive all the
agriculture and DWACRA loans.

People
believed and stopped repaying loans and when Chandrababu Naidu failed to keep
up his promise, they have become defaulters and banks have put their accounts
in the list of Non Performing Assets. From zero percent interest to pavala
vaddi, now they are forced to pay 14 % interest to renew their loans.

The
non-implementation of loan waiver has a cascading affect on the farmers and
women groups as they cannot renew the loans unless they clear the old ones and
farmers in the Hudhud Cyclone affected areas are at sea as they lost the
eligibility to claim crop insurance after being listed as defaulters.

Crops in
nearly 7 lakh acres has been totally lost and severely damaged in an even
number of acres. Generally, they would be getting Rs 35,000 as compensation
from insurance companies.  TDP government has been dilly-dallying and
changing its tune on a daily basis and scaling down the size by imposing
conditions for eligibility for the waiver.

The State
has been telling that it will clear loans in five installments which means the
farmers and women groups remain to be debtors for five years and are not
eligible for fresh loans or crops insurance. The deception of the TDP
government has shattered the personal relations between the farmers, women
groups and the bankers. DWACRA groups in the State had a good name with nearly
90 per cent recoveries and carved a niche in micro-financing sector which was
shattered by the TDP Government by failing to implement its poll promise, he
said.

The
heart-burn of the people has erupted in the form of dharnas at all mandal
headquarters with large number participating in response to the call given by
our Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said.