Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has launched a ‘stinging’ attack on all those who are at the helm in the Congress government for “sheer incompetence that nullified the benefits given to farmers during the BRS rule and imposed a manmade calamity on them.”
“The enormity of the ‘artificial’ calamity presently gripping Telangana is much bigger than any natural calamity,” he said, adding that a “total of 200 farmers died in the last 100 days of the Congress government” in the State.
“We have already sent the list of the deceased farmers to the authorities and the government should sanction ₹25 lakh ex gratia each to the bereaved families,” Mr. Rao said while addressing the media in Sircilla of Rajanna Sircilla district on Friday evening.
“The ‘miserable’ failure of the Congress government to manage water resources and letting out 50 tmc of water to go waste into the sea by magnifying the damage to two pillars of the Medigadda barrage took a heavy toll on farmers, resulting in withering of crops in 15 to 20 lakh acres,” the former CM said.
“Compensation of ₹25,000 per acre should be paid,” he demanded. The pre-2014 precarious water situation has returned to haunt the people of Telangana with water scarcity looming large and tankers resurfacing in the nearly four months of Congress rule,” he alleged.
Claiming that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) was constructed scientifically based on the LiDAR survey data, Mr. Rao said that it proved a boon to the farmers. It ensured that the reservoirs, tanks and other water bodies brim with water throughout the year and replenish the groundwater table in the old undivided Karimnagar district and various other districts. The SRSP rejuvenation scheme is notable among the projects completed by the BRS government giving a fillip to irrigation and boost to agriculture production, he noted.
Those at the helm in the Congress dispensation are hell-bent upon showing the minor damage to two to three piers of the Medigadda barrage through a magnifying glass to blame our BRS government at the cost of farmers for their narrow political gains, Mr. Rao added.
He said, “It is only after my visit to the agricultural fields affected by the manmade calamity that this government released water from the Nagarjunasagar project into the left canal and from the Gayatri pumphouse of the KLIP into the Flood Flow Canal. Had the government ensured release of water 20 days ago, the standing crops of the farmers would have been saved.”
If the Congress government failed to take appropriate steps to ensure release of water from the KLIP, the BRS will organise a march to the project with thousands of farmers to protect their interests, he warned.
He also accused the Congress government of deceiving farmers by failing to deliver on its promises such as waiver of farm loan up to ₹2 lakh, and payment of ₹500 bonus per quintal of crops, among others.
The weavers of Sircilla are reeling under crisis in the powerloom sector due to the failure of the Congress government to place orders for production of fabric for Bathukamma, Ramzan and Christmas festivals, an initiative implemented by the previous BRS government providing assured work and income to the weavers.
He said the BRS will stand by the distraught farmers and weavers in their fight against injustices.
