Chase Away Telangana Activists: CM

Launching a direct attack on the Telangana leaders, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday asked farmers to chase away Telangana activists wherever they are found.

Addressing a large contingent of Congress activists from Adilabad district at his Camp Office, the Chief Minister said that both Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee chairman Prof. M Kodandaram were responsible for the shortage of power and coal supplies which in turn have affected power supply to the farmers.

He asked the activists to immediately call off the general strike as the decision on Telangana is in the hands of Delhi's leaders.

As against a demand of 270 million units, the state government has been trying to supply only 225 mu by purchasing power from other states at the rate of Rs. 5 per unit, the Chief Minister said.

Water from Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam is to be released to 22 lakh acres of Kharif crops till October and generate power.

Coal output for 2 more months would have helped the state save farmers' crops, he said.

The Chief Minister stated that it was due to KCR and and Kodandaram motivating protestors that coal production has come to a halt. He asked farmers to face the agitators and drive them back wherever necessary.

Kodandaram had gone to Godavarikhani and Khammam and blocked the coal production, which was not reasonable, the Chief Minister said.

The CM said that now both the farmers and government were helpless due to a power shortage, and that neither of them can afford to bear further losses.

He even advised Telangana groups to postpone the stir for 2 months since farmers need power immediately.

The Chief Minister said that the irrigation of 75 lakh of acres depends on bore wells, and that in Telangana 60% of the land depends on power supply to wells, bore-wells and pump-sets.

The Indira Jalaprabha scheme would have helped SC and ST farmers irrigate lands in 10 lakh acres in Adilabad at a cost of Rs. 170 crore, but the strike has dampened the enthusiasm to carry out the scheme, he said.

Kiran Kumar Reddy has also appealed to the APSRTC staff to give up the strike, which entered its 15th day on Monday. He clarified that no one was against the Telangana solution but that he is calling for restraint over the issue. He added that linking the issue with welfare activities, especially those connected to farmers, is incorrect and unfortunate. (INN)