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Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay demands a crop insurance policy to protect farmers’ interests

The BJP leader said the state government announcing ₹10,000 per acre compensation to farmers who have lost their crop is an act of eyewash.

BySouth First Desk

Published Mar 23, 2023 | 7:20 PM ⚊UpdatedMar 23, 2023 | 7:20 PM

In a statement, Bandi Sanjay said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was visiting fields and showing immense affection towards farmers only keeping in view the Assembly elections happening later this year. (Twitter)

Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Thursday, 23 March, demanded that the state government introduce a comprehensive crop insurance policy to protect the long-term interests of farmers in the state.

In a statement, Bandi Sanjay said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao — who he said never cared about the crop damage suffered by farmers due to untimely rains this time and previously — was visiting fields and showing immense affection towards farmers only keeping in view the Assembly elections happening later this year.

He said that announcing a compensation of ₹10,000 per acre to farmers who have lost their crop is an eyewash.

“The financial assistance announced by the chief minister to farmers is not enough and it won’t even get their investment costs. It is a shame on his part to say that the financial aid would be a great help,” he said.

Discrepancy in crop damage numbers

According to Bandi Sanjay, the preliminary estimate is that the crop has been damaged in more than five lakh acres across the state. Leaders of farmers’ associations are saying the same thing. Surprisingly, the agriculture and revenue officials have not visited fields to assess the crop loss.

“It’s ironic that the chief minister said that the crop was damaged in only 2.28 lakh acres,” he noted, describing the arrest of farmers’ unions leaders as “unfortunate”. Instead of paying attention to the requests of farmers’ unions, the BRS government kept them under house arrest during the chief minister’s visit, Bandi Sanjay pointed out.

Also Read: KCR visits hailstorm affected farmers; declares compensation

‘Centre could have helped’

“It is shameful that the chief minister has not sent a report to the central government on the crop loss,” Bandi Sanjay said.

There would have been a possibility of getting compensation to farmers who have lost crops, if the Centre’s Fasal Bima Yojana scheme was introduced in the state. However, the chief minister did not implement the scheme in Telangana, fearing that the Centre would get the credit, stated Bandi Sanjay.

“It has become a habit for the chief minister to blame the Centre while covering up his failures. If the Centre does everything, then what will Chandrashekar Rao do as the chief minister of Telangana?” Sanjay questioned.

‘BJP’s continuous struggles’

Criticising the communists for failing to fight on behalf of farmers who were affected by the unseasonal rains, he said that the communist leaders were confined to only praising the ruling party.

He noted that it was the BJP’s continuous struggle that made the chief minister, who was till then limited to Pragathi Bhavan and the farmhouse, come to dharna chowk and later, visit fields and interact with farmers.

Meanwhile, Telangana BJP Mahila Morcha president K Geetha Murthy, in a memorandum submitted to the National Commission for Women, urged them to instruct the Telangana Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police to take necessary measures to ensure safety and security of the women in the wake of recent incidents against women in the state.