Aakumarru, Krishna Dist, Nov 4: Exposing the anti-farmer policy of the coalition government, former Chief Minister and YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has demanded that the crop insurance should be paid immediately, failing which the Party would take up the issue.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, after visiting the affected areas and interacting with farmers who had shown the damaged crops, he said Chandrababu Naidu has to be grossly blamed for doing away with crop insurance and the farmers had to bear the brunt. As it is his fault for not paying the crop insurance, his government has to pay the amount along with the Rs 600 crore dues and start paying the premium for the forthcoming Rabi season.
Crop enumeration was not done properly and was taken up in a hurry and there are many riders that paddy will not be procured for those who claim crop insurance and the extent of damage for 15 lakh acres was brought down to evade compensation.
The district Collector asked the officials to complete the enumeration in one day, and every farmer in all the 25 districts are telling in unison that no one had done the enumeration and no official had come for a field visit. While paddy farmers are the biggest losers with 11 lakh acres being sown, cotton, banana, maize, and other crops were washed away during Cyclone Montha.
While farmers are in distress, Chandrababu conducts an aerial survey and leaves for London, while his son goes to Mumbai to watch a cricket match, leaving farmers in the lurch.
During the 18 months of coalition government, there are 16 disasters, from cyclones to heavy rains to drought, and the government’s attitude towards the farmers has been harsh; it has no compassion.
Chandrababu did not pay the promised input subsidy of Rs 20,000 for two years and has given only Rs 5,000, and now there are efforts to scale down the extent of crop loss.
During our term, we have promptly paid input subsidy, and crop insurance was done with punctuality, besides the Rs 3,000 crore Price Stabilization Fund, which had ensured that farmers get MSP at all times and has spent Rs 7,800 crore during our term.
The RBKs were serving the farmers' interests, handholding them at every step from seeds to marketing and enumeration was done effectively.
During the coalition government, only 19 lakh farmers were registered for crop insurance, as they had taken bank loans and it is mandatory for them and the remaining farmers stand to lose.
During our term, we had paid a premium for 85 lakh farmers. We demand that the crop insurance amount should be paid to all farmers as the government has defaulted in paying the premium, he said, adding that the armchair enumeration is evident from the fact that e-cropping 112 to 120 percent in Bapatla district, which shows the haphazard manner in which it was carried out.
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