Hyderabad: Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao conveyed his greetings to the people of Telangana on the occasion of the Ugadi festival on Tuesday marking the commencement of Telugu new year of ‘Plava’. He said as predicted in the Telugu Almanac that there would be more importance to the flow of water this new year, water for irrigation would be available in abundance in the State. He said it was a good omen that even the nature seems to be favouring the government’s vision in this regard.
In a statement, the Chief Minister termed the Ugadi as the farmers’ festival marking the commencement of agricultural activities in the year. He said Ugadi welcomes the end of the Fall and the beginning of the Spring season and it ushers in a new enthusiasm. He said the season was favourable for growth of new shoots of plants. “People consuming ‘Ugadi Pachchadi’ is an age-old tradition which has a great message for all. The mixture of fresh neem flowers, raw mango, tamarind, sugarcane and other ingredients in the ‘Pachchadi’ symbolise various tastes from sweet, sour to bitter which is the essence of life comprising divergent experiences of a human life,” he said.
Chandrashekhar Rao said the people of Telangana who tasted bitterness of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, were now enjoying the sweet fruits of self-governance. He reminded that water was harnessed, stored and then pumped to the agricultural fields above the Mean Sea level, through lifts, tunnels, canals and barrages. He said the ambitious Kaleshwaram project was winning accolades by filling several water bodies to the brim even during the scorching summer and making the dream of one crore acre fertile lands in the State a reality, helping farmers in the State reap bumper yields.
“We are going to complete the Palamuru Lift Irrigation Scheme and other ongoing irrigation projects in a few months,” the Chief Minister said. Proving the critics wrong, he said Telangana has been ranked first in the country in terms of paddy cultivation and also yield. He pointed out that Telangana has become a rice bowl of the country and the State government was purchasing the crops grown by farmers at Minimum Support Price during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chandrashekhar Rao said schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima have instilled confidence among the farmers and their families in the State, giving them new hopes for a brighter future. He said the Telangana government, which has been giving top priority to agriculture and allied sectors, has shouldered the responsibility of farmers and was uniting farmers through the constitution of Rythu Bandhu Samithis and construction of Rythu Vedikas across the State. He said that the Telangana government has turned farming into a profitable profession for farmers who sufferred in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister said the State government was giving top priority to agriculture and its allied sectors by spending over Rs 50,000 crore every year for construction of the irrigation projects and implementation of schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rhythu Bima, loan waiver and uninterrupted power supply scheme among others. He stated that it was the aim of the government to bring happiness among the farmers and make them lead comfortable lives.
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