Waive Farmers' Loans In One Stroke: T-Congress

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the TRS government waive off the crop loans of farmers in one go instead of in installments.

"Waiving off the farmers' loans was the election promise of the TRS. It is their duty to implement it perfectly," he said.

Speaking to the media on Monday at Gandhi Bhavan after releasing a book titled "Annadaata Aarthanadam" published by the Telangana Kisan Keth Mazdoor Congress, Reddy also demanded that the government own up responsibility for the suicides of farmers, and asked the government to implement the Debt Relief Act to check the suicides by farmers.

Reminding the listeners of the TRS government's statement that Telangana was a rich state, Reddy asked the government why it was not extending Rs 5 lakhs in ex gratia to the families of the deceased farmers.

"The TRS government has not paid a single rupee to the kin of farmers who committed suicides," he alleged.

He also alleged that every top official in the government right from the Chief Minister and the ministers was eagerly meeting those who were clad in "suits and boots", but was not concerned with the farmers' suicides. Why were the ministers and TRS leaders not consoling the families of the farmers who committed suicides, he asked.

He said that the Congress members would corner the government in the Assembly on the farmers' issue, but also that the Congress would extend coordination in case the government initiated constructive steps to curb the suicides of the farmers.

Earlier, Telangana Kisan Keth Mazdoor Congress Chairman M Kodanda Reddy alleged that the TRS government had ignored all their pleas with regard to the farmers' suicides.