AP govt reiterates commitment to farmers' welfare

Vijayawada: Asserting that the State Government is committed to the welfare and development of farmers, Minister for Agriculture Kakani Govardhan Reddy negated the allegations of Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan and said people will not believe them.

Addressing a press conference at Tadepalli on Wednesday, he lambasted the Opposition TDP and Jana Sena, stating that they were deliberately taking up malicious propaganda to mislead the public and challenged them to prove their allegations.

Referring to Pawan Kalyan, he said that he couldn't show a single family of farmers with CCRC (crop cultivator relief card) that was left out by the government without paying compensation upon losing the breadwinner. He said that the government is paying Rs 7 lakh as compensation even to the families of tenant farmers with CCRC cards.

During Chandrababu's term, farmer's suicides were not recognised and the families were left in the lurch without any compensation.

He said that Pawan Kalyan didn't volunteer to visit farmers' families during TDP regime, even after not paying any compensation to the kin and added that Pawan visiting the districts is only to benefit Chandrababu.

The Minister noted that the current government had paid compensation to 471 farmers' families, who were left out during TDP rule, and said that even the families of tenant farmers are also being compensated with Rs one lakh as insurance.

He said that Chandrababu Naidu has no credibility, while Pawan has no character, and stated that a section of media always stands by the rivals in their malicious propaganda to mislead people.

Clarifying that there is no such thing as a crop holiday or declaration of drought zones, he said that the government is providing water much earlier benefiting farmers.

Unlike Chandrababu Naidu who failed to waive off crop loans and betrayed farmers, the current government is facilitating all the farm needs and helping them from seed to sale, he claimed.