Dry Spell Causing Farmer Suicides: TRS In Assembly

As soon as the Telangana Assembly met after a six-day break on Tuesday, MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi raised the issue of the encounters of Vikaruddin and co-undertrials and demanded a debate in the House. However, Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary said that the House could discuss the farmers's suicides issue for the entire day.

He also clarified that a decision had been taken in the Business Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the farmers' suicides first in the House.

"Let's set aside all other issues and take up only the farmers' suicides' issue for the day. We can take up the Vikarudin encounter issue later," the Speaker said.

When the MIM member insisted that the Vikaruddin encounter be taken up first, the Speaker and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao convinced him about the need to discuss the farmers' issue first

When Akbarudin relented, discussion on the suicides of farmers began in the House.

Initiating the debate, CLP leader and Leader of the Opposition K Jana Reddy said that distressed farmers resorting to suicides was heart-rending.

Pointing out that the farmers were reeling under severe drought conditions in the State, Reddy said that the members could discuss the role of the previous governments and the measures taken to alleviate the suffering of farming community, but it was not proper for the ministers to rise to their feet one after the other even before the debate on the issue was completed.

He also alleged that the government was trying to escape by putting the blame upon the Congress for the farmers' suicides.

The latter statements were partly in response to Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao telling the House during Reddy's speech that the Congress alone was responsible for the suicides of the farmers.

Making a statement then in the House, Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the reports of farmers suicides were painful.

Attributing the farmers' suicides to drought conditions in the State for the last two years, Pocharam admitted that standing crops had withered due to a dry spell immediately after the sowing operations.

Crops had been planted in some 80% of the cultivable area all over the State. But while the Adilabad, Khammam and Warangal districts recorded average rainfall, 70% of the crops had been damaged in the Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts due to scanty rainfall, and 100% of the crops had withered away in the Mahabubnagar district, he said.

He also said that the farmers had sunk more borewells in the hope of getting adequate water due to the dry spell, but that the borewells failed to yield water, leaving the farmers despondent and sad.

Pocharam pointed out that most of the irrigation projects in Telangana were incomplete, and the minor irrigation sector had been totally neglected by the previous governments for decades, resulting in the farmers needing to invest in borewells themselves.

The Minister informed the members that the State government was however taking all possible measures to provide seeds, fertilizers and power supply.

Also, this year the TRS government had already waived off 50% of the farmers' crop loans, to the tune of Rs 8,336 crores so far, and was focusing on waiving off the remaining 50% of the crop loans soon.

Despite the government making all out efforts to wipe out their tears, the farmers were still resorting to suicides due to the severe drought spell, he said.

Keeping the farmers' woes in view, the government had increased the ex gratia to Rs 6 lakhs, he said, and appealed to the farmers not to end their lives in despair.