Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) has accused that the Telangana Government had failed pay compensation to farmers who lost their crops due to natural calamities
“TS government did not distribute a single rupee of compensation, though ₹188 crore was sanctioned by the Centre under the Disaster Relief Fund and the Telangana Government’s own reports show crop loss in 15 lakh acres,” says Rythu Swarajya Vedika
According to Vissa Kiran Kumar of the RSV, the Supreme Court of India held a preliminary hearing on Thursday of the special leave petition (1809/2022) filed by the Telangana government, appealing against the Telangana High Court judgment in the PIL filed for crop loss compensation by activists of farmer organization Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV).
He said that the High Court judgment on September 28, 2021, in the petition WP(PIL) No.290/2020 ordered the Telangana government to immediately enumerate the farmers who suffered severe crop loss due to the floods of October 2020, and complete the distribution of compensation within 4 months of the judgment, including tenant cultivators among the beneficiaries. Instead of complying with the High Court orders in the stipulated time, the Government of Telangana appealed to the Supreme Court in January 2022.
Mr. Kiran Kumar said that when the Supreme Court asked the counsel for Telangana whether the government had distributed any compensation to the affected farmers, the counsel could not provide any information on the compensation and instead told the Court about its general cash transfer scheme. The Court reiterated the question focusing on crop loss compensation, and issued notice in the case ordering the Government of Telangana to file rejoinder to the counter-affidavit of the respondents within 3 weeks. The respondents from Rythu Swarajya Vedika have already filed a detailed Counter-affidavit to the S.L.P. responding to the arguments made by the Govt of Telangana in its petition.
The PIL filed in the High Court of Telangana by Kirankumar Vissa, Ravi Kanneganti and S.Ashalatha of Rythu Swarajya Vedika made a plea for immediate distribution of compensation for crop loss to lakhs of farmers who suffered during the unprecedented rains and flooding of October 2020.
“This case is very important because farmers are facing similar crop losses every year including the present monsoon season, pushing them into deep debt and suicides. We hope that the Supreme Court clearly establishes the responsibility of the state government towards providing relief as per the National Disaster Management Act, so that it sets a precedent for subsequent years and for all the states too. The Telangana government does not have an answer to why it has not distributed a single rupee in compensation to the lakhs of farmers who lost their crop,” Kirankumar Vissa, one of the petitioners of the original PIL, said.
