Telangana Congress leader Shabbir Ali asked CM K Chandrashekar Rao to make his stand clear on the Land Acquisition Bill.
"Our war against the anti-farmer policies of the TRS government has now begun. We will not allow the circumstances which are forcing the farmers to commit suicides, to prevail. The governments, both at the State and Centre, should mend their ways or face public anger," said Leader of the Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir while addressing a massive rally in Kamareddy of the Nizamabad district on Thursday.
Shabbir Ali asked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to make his stand clear on the Land Acquisition Bill. "You will have to spell out your stand on the Land Acquisition Policy. You must announce whether you are on the side of the farmers or the big corporates. You cannot play safe by staying silent on the issue," he said, asking KCR to announce his party's stand on the Land Acquisition Bill during the TRS plenary session to be held on Friday.
Originally, the rally and public meeting was organised by the Congress workers of Kamareddy to felicitate Shabbir Ali upon him getting appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. However, the rally took an emotional turn at the beginning itself. While Shabbir Ali was being felicitated by the Congress leaders of Basvapur village, some women came near the dais and narrated the problems they were facing under the TRS regime.
While some elderly women complained of non-receipt of ration cards for the last six months, a young girl, Shanti, told Shabbir Ali that her father Chinta Ramaiah had committed suicide after his name was removed from the pensioners' list.
A few other women complained of the problems that they were facing in getting ration cards and pensions.
Their narrations were so emotional that the Congress workers started raising slogans against the Chief Minister and the concerned MRO.
A farmer of Basvapur met the Congress leaders with a bunch of his crops which had gotten damaged in the recent unseasonal rains. He said that he had suffered losses in the last season due to deficient rainfall and erratic power supply, and that this season, unseasonal rains had washed away all his hopes.
Similar complaints were received when the Congress rally proceeded towards the venue of the public meeting at Satya Gardens on Sircilla Road in Kamareddy.
"No farmer should commit suicide under any circumstances. The Congress party will strive hard to get adequate compensation for the losses which you have suffered, and all our leaders and workers too will make some contribution to help you out of the situation. Don't lose hope. AICC President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi are spearheading the battle to protect the interest of farmers, and we will not rest until justice is done to the farmers," Shabbir Ali said, adding that his first visit to Kamareddy was not aimed at participating in the felicitation function, but to learn about the problems being faced by the farmers.
Shabbir Ali accused the state government of completely neglecting the farmers. Of 459 mandals in Telangana, as many as 332 had received deficient rainfall, but the state government did not declare any mandals drought-hit to seek Central assistance for them, he alleged.
Similarly, the government did not prepare any reports despite farmers losing crops spread over one lakh acres due to the unseasonal rains, he railed.
More than 750 farmers had committed suicide since the formation of the TRS government in June last year, and one farmer was committing suicide in every 10-12 hours, he alleged.
He also criticised the government for not paying compensation as per GO Ms No 421 to the families of the farmers who committed suicides.
He lashed out at KCR also for denying pensions to eligible beneficiaries by confining pensions to one person in a family.
"KCR did not apply the same rule to himself. He made his son and son-in-law ministers in his cabinet and got his daughter elected as the Nizamabad MP. The other relatives have been
accommodated as OSDs," he pointed out.
Other senior Congress leaders also addressed the public meeting. (INN)