*Coalition Govt crushing aqua farmers: Vaddi Raghuram*

Tadepalligudem, Aug 30: YSRCP Tadepalligudem Constituency Coordinator and former APSADA Vice Chairman Vaddi Raghuram said the aqua sector has been pushed into a severe crisis by the coalition government’s reckless policies, rising feed prices and new electricity conditions.
Speaking at his camp office, Raghuram said shrimp feed prices have risen by ₹14–15 per kg, including a ₹4 hike on February 26 and another ₹10 on June 12, imposing an additional burden of nearly ₹15,000 per tonne. He said farmers are now considering crop holidays as cultivation is becoming unviable. He also questioned Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s failure to control feed companies despite heading the Aqua Development Authority, and said the government’s price-control mechanism had become ineffective.
Raghuram said a Gujarat-based company has announced another hike from September 1—₹5.70 per kg on Vannamei feed and ₹3.85 on Tiger shrimp feed. He demanded an immediate rollback and questioned why leaders who once spoke of “J-tax” were silent now, asking how much “CLP tax”—Chandrababu, Lokesh and Pawan—was being collected from feed companies.
He said the YS Jagan government created APSADA to regulate feed and seed quality and prices and protected aqua farmers even during Covid. He also said shrimp prices improved after Jagan stood with aqua farmers in Bhimavaram.
Raghuram further said G.O. Nos. 169 and 57 were being used to deny the promised ₹1.50-per-unit subsidised power by imposing an unrealistic 0.90–0.95 power-factor condition. He estimated the additional equipment burden at Rs. 70,000 per hectare, or about Rs. 1,400 crore across two lakh hectares.
He warned that unless feed-price hikes are withdrawn and power subsidy is protected, YSRCP would mobilise aqua farmers across the State for a major agitation.