Telangana government to help farmers hit by unseasonal rains

Hyderabad, March 20: The Telangana government will help the farmers, whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said on Wednesday.

He said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has directed the officials to assess the damages caused to the crops due to hailstorms in some parts of the state.

Claiming that the government is sincere in lending a helping hand to farmers, the minister dismissed the criticism by the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

BRS leaders, "who cheated farmers" during their 10-year rule, were making baseless allegations against the Congress government which is working for farmers’ welfare, he said.

He said that the BRS government never provided input subsidies to farmers during their 10 years in power, and only once - and that too just before elections - had provided Rs 150 crore compensation to farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

He said on another occasion, the government only issued an order but never released the funds.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Planning Commission Vice Chairman G. Chinna Reddy said that the government has decided to help the farmers who suffered losses and the Chief Minister has asked the officials to submit details of the losses.

Chinna Reddy said farmers in nine districts suffered losses.

Kamareddy district bore the brunt of the unseasonal rains and hailstorms. He said since former minister K.T. Rama Rao and Niranjan Reddy have become jobless, they have no other work but to criticise the government.

Earlier, Rama Rao slammed the Congress government for ignoring the plight of farmers who suffered losses due to unseasonal rains. Rama Rao, who is the BRS' Working President, said those in power in the state were busy making rounds of Delhi and demanded compensation of Rs.10,000 per acre for farmers whose crops were damaged.