Telangana Tops In Farmers' Suicides: TDP

Telangana TDP senior leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy today alleged that Telangana ranked at the top in farmers' suicide incidents in the country.

Speaking to media at NTR Bhavan, Ravula, who is also a TDP politburo member, said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had said that there would be no incidents of suicides by farmers in the state once the TRS came to power. But due to the negligent attitude of the state government, Telangana had achieved the opposite distinction, of being number one in farmers' suicides in the country, the TDP leader said.

After the formation of the separate state for the Telangana region in 2014, 3,032 farmers had committed suicides across the state till October 5, Ravula said. But the TRS government had provided financial assistance only to 457 farmers, of Rs 6 lakhs each, the TDP leader said.

Ravula said, "We are sending a letter to the Chief Minister with details of the farmers' suicides, including date, cause of death, village name, mandal and district names. The TRS government should provide financial assistance, including ex-gratia, to all the victims without any discrimination."

Ravula said that the government had failed to take any measures for the welfare of the farmers or the development of the agriculture sector.

The TDP leader also criticised the TRS government for not providing any help to the families of the Telangana martyrs. There were 1,200 persons who had sacrificed their lives for Telangana's statehood, and 500 families were still awaiting help from the government, he said. He alleged that the government had failed to even identify the families of the martyrs.