Congress, BJP playing with ryots’ lives: Niranjan Reddy

Nalgonda: Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Wednesday dared the Congress and the BJP to announce a national-level farmers declaration promising Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima and 24 hours free power supply to the agriculture sector.

Speaking at a workshop on preparation for Vanakalam season here, Niranjan Reddy said that Congress and BJP were considering Telangana as a place for political experiments. “If both the national parties were sincere towards the welfare of farmers, they should announce a national level farmers’ declaration assuring legality for Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the crops and Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima and 24 hours free power supply to the agriculture sector,” he said.

The Minister dared Congress and the BJP to promise similar schemes for the entire country. Indirectly referring to the Congress, he said that one national political party resorted to the drama of farmers’ declaration for its political interests in the State. He accused Congress and BJP of playing with the lives of the farmers. Underling the need for a national agriculture policy, he strongly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling his promises of linking NREGP with agricultural works.

Stating that Telangana has surpassed Punjab in paddy production, the Minister said that three crore tonnes of paddy was produced in the State last year as against two crore tonnes in Punjab. Stating that excess production was also alarming, the Minister said the consumption of rice has been gradually decreasing. “Hence, farmers should switch to the cultivation of alternative crops. Farmers should take up the cultivation of crops, which have high demand in the market and give high yield,” he added.

He said that the State government was working with a target to increase oil farm cultivation by 2 lakh acres in the Vanakalam season and saplings were readied at the nurseries. In the next four years, the area of oil farms would be increased by 10 lakh acres. He asked the officials of the Agriculture and Horticulture Department to conduct awareness programmes in Rythu Vedikas to encourage the farmers to take up alternative crops.

Telangana State Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy, Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy, Rythu Bandhu Samithi State president Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Nalgonda collector Prashanth Jeevan Patil, Yadadr-Bhongir Collector Pamela Sathpathi, MLAs, officials of Agriculture and Horticulture Departments from Nalgonda and Yadadri-Bhongir districts attended the programme.