Govt not paying Rs 1700 Cr bills to farmers: Kuna
Naidu promoted agriculture but Jagan ganja-culture
AMARAVATI: TDP former MLA Kuna Ravikumar on Wednesday asserted that there was a rising resentment among all sections of farmers in Andhra Pradesh against the Jaganmohan Reddy Government’s unfriendly policies towards the agriculture sector.
Ravikumar said that the farmers carried out Neeru Chettu works of below Rs 10 lakh value all over the State in the previous TDP regime. Now, the Jagan regime was harassing them by not paying Rs. 1,700 Cr dues for the past two and half years. Moreover, the Government was ordering false enquiries to brand these farmers as ‘robbers and corrupt persons’.
Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader said that the YSRCP regime gave a raw deal to the farmers in all spheres of agricultural activities ever since it came to power. Alarmingly, the farmers were targetted and victimised along political lines. The farmers have sold their wives’ mangal sutras to complete Neeru Chettu works but the present rulers were making their lives miserable by denying payments.
Ravikumar said that as per the chief engineer of minor irrigation himself, there were Rs. 1,700 Cr dues under Neeru Chettu works. The Chandrababu regime carried out over Rs. 4,851 Cr of Neeru Chettu works, which helped in recharging groundwater table up to 5 metres and stabilising over 7 lakh acres all over the State. However, ever since he became CM in 2019, Jagan Reddy did not construct a single check dam nor a single farm pond nor one single water consumption work anywhere in the State.
The TDP leader slammed Jagan Reddy for showing interest only in surveying and looting sand, granite, bauxite, laterite, etc while Chandrababu Naidu focused on ground water recharge, better water management practices and such sustainable development. CM Jagan was not changing his arrogant and faction mindset despite cautionary strictures from the courts of justice against his regime’s unconstitutional policies.
Accusing the ruling YSRCP of ‘victimising farmers’, the TDP leader warned of dire consequences if the Government officials in any department would succumb to political pressures to give false reports against Neeru Chettu works. As per the laws, the defect liability can be applied only to those original and maintenance works within 2 years after their completion. Over four years were over but the Government was trying to cite fabricated defects to deny payments to the Neeru Chettu works.
Ravikumar said that the vigilance officials were being forced to give wrong reports against the 776 Neeru Chettu works executed by the farmers. The TDP would come to power in 2024 and then a commission would be ordered to enquire into these erroneous reports to bring the guilty to book. The district collectors should also be very careful before harassing the Neeru Chettu farmers under atrocious political pressure.
The TDP leader said that the Chandrababu regime got 9 scotch awards for excellence in different fields but the Jagan regime was getting national and international wards in ganja cultivation. The ruling YSRCP has turned AP into the most tainted ‘ganja State’ in the entire country.
