Tanuku (West Godavari dist), In a vitriolic diatribe against the TDP Government, Leader of Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said more taxes and price hikes will be imposed in the days to come unless we intensify this struggle and keep the Chief Minister on guard and appealed to the people to join hands and mount pressure on the State to refrain from anti-
people policies.
Addressing the large gathering on the concluding day of the Farmers’ Deeksha here on Sunday, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said: “Chandrababu Naidu has been incessantly telling lies second one to cover up the first one and history shows that he was never soft on farmers. In the past we have seen reversing of election promises like prohibition, subsidized power tariff and the like and now he is trying to get away without implementing his poll promises.
We should not fall prey to his wily tactics but join hands to bring him back to terms with a state-wide agitation on loan waver to farmers and women self help groups, and other promises made in the manifesto.”
Chandrababu Naidu and his team have been cutting a sorry figure on the state of finance and the poor condition of exchequer. All this is by design. Giving a shoddy picture of the state finance is only to avoid the welfare schemes like loan waiver, refrain from giving increasing the salaries of employees as per PRC recommendations and to further slash the welfare schemes.
Chandrababu Naidu has the history of imposing taxes heavily, collecting water user charges, and steeply increasing water cess, power tariff for farmers and has imposed taxes of Rs 2,150 crores on a single day contending that the State is short of finances.
Even now he is replaying the same old tune and we should be cautious and thwart any such move by intensifying the struggle, he said amid cheers from the large gathering. Right now the cost of one tractor load of sand has gone up by five times, fertilizers have become dear and he is ready to increase municipal taxes and other charges but shows no intention to waiver farmer
and DWACRA group loans. He pointedly asked the State Government as to how many loans of farmers and DWACRA groups were waived so far.
When YSR was Chief Minister, his word was law and it was followed in letter and spirit. Chandrababu Naidu had written to the Election Commission that he is fully aware of the arithmetic involved in the loan waiver and categorically said it was feasible. His promises were widely publicized during electioneering through hoardings, banners, pamphlets and wall writings which vociferously said that all agriculture and DWACRA loans would be waived, one job for one house, increased pensions and the like and asked the farmers and women groups not to repayloans or redeem gold pawned with banks.
After coming to power, he has been a different man. He tried to deride the promises he made. First it was Kotaiah Committee followed by talking to RBI to reschedule loans, then Rs 5,000 crores were allotted against the total liability of Rs 87,000 crores towards farm loan waiver, then came the strictures like linkage to Aadhar card, one loan per family, no waiver forhorticulture and so on.
When Chandrababu Naidu, who has his Aadhar card, ration card and PAN in Hyderabad, can become Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh why should a farmer who has his Aadhar card inHyderabad be ineligible for farm loan, he asked. The Chief Minister’s anti-people policy has hampered the rural economy. With no fresh loans coming from banks farmers are looking towards money lenders who charge exorbitant rate of interest. The State has set up purchasing centers for buying paddy and is paying through cheques which are being adjusted by the banks for the earlier loans.
Of the Rs 56,000 crores bankers have allocated for the year, it could only disburse only Rs 13,000 crores which means the remaining amount was borrowed by private money lenders.
While the Bankers Committee has said that the agriculture loans, before elections, accounted for Rs 87, 612 crores the amount has increased to Rs 99, 555 crores, the difference being penal
interest. This is the plight of the farmers and DWACRA groups are also hardly hit. The number Grade A Self Help Groups (SHGs), who are very prompt in repaying loans, has decreased from 12, 274 to 1,100 after TDP came to power. We are here to express solidarity with them and this struggle will continue and intensify, he said rounding off the two-day deeksha.
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