The compensation for crop damages is being done as per the norms of the Union Government and it was the previous government that has fixed the percentage and issued the GO, said Minister for Agriculture, Kurasala Kannababu.
Refuting the allegations by the opposition leader Nara Lokesh the Minister said that it was the previous TDP government that has issued the GO that compensation can be claimed only if a minimum of 33 percent of crop is damaged.
Nara Lokesh should better watch his words and prepare the subject before levelling allegations on the state government. In regard to this, the Minister said that the opposition TDP members don’t have any moral right to speak on the issues of farmers, as they have abandoned and cheated the farmers during their five-year term.
Unlike the previous government that has failed to disburse input subsidy on time, the Chief Minister has been providing input subsidy in the same crop season to benefit farmers. Enumeration is going on for the Nivar Cyclone damage and it will be paid soon.
Speaking on the market intervention, the minister said that Lokesh has been falsely propagating that only Rs 300 crore was spent on crop purchases. In reality, the government had spent almost Rs 3200 Crore for procuring all kinds of crops besides paddy, which even includes tobacco. During COVID crisis, the state government took an initiative for helping the farmers and procured over 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of crops.
The Minister said that the opposition TDP leaders are intentionally creating confusion among the farmers to gain their trust but they are not going to fall for such cheap politics. The state government under the leadership of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been taking effective measures to safeguard farmers and has initiated to provide all infrastructural facilities at the village level including cold storages, godowns, sorting, and grading machinery. Crop procurement is done at RBK level, he said.