Hyderabad, October 04: Launching a direct attack on the Telangana leaders, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday asked the farmers to chase away the Telangana activists wherever they are found.
Addressing a large contingent of Congress activists from Adilabad district at his Camp Office, the Chief Minister said both Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee chairman Prof M Kodandaram were responsible for shortage of power and coal supplies which in turn affected the power supply to the farmers. He asked them to immediately call off the general strike as the decision on Telangana was in the hands of Delhi leaders.
As against a demand of 270 million units the State Government was trying to supply only 225 mu by purchasing the power from other states at the rate of Rs 5 per unit, the Chief Minister said. Under Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects water is to be released to 22 lakh acres under Kharif till October and generate power. Coal output for two more months would have helped State to save the farmers’ crops, he said.
The Chief Minister has specifically pointed out that it was due to KCR and and Kodandaram’s motivation that the coal production came to a halt. He asked the farmers to face the strikers 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. He said now both the farmers and government was in helpless situation due to power shortage and neither of them could afford to bear further losses. He even advised the Telangana groups to postpone the stir for two months as poor farmers need power supply at this juncture.
The Chief Minister informed that irrigation of 75 lakh of acres depended on bore wells and in Telangana itself 60 percent depended on power supply to the wells, bore-wells and pump-sets. Under Indira Jalaprabha it was intended to help SC and ST farmers to irrigate their lands in 10 lakh acres in Adilabad district at a cost of Rs 170 crore but the strike dampened the spirits to do so, he said.
Kiran Kumar Reddy has also appealed to the APSRTC staff to give up the strike which entered 15th day on Monday. He clarified that no one was against the Telangana solution but he called for observance of restraint over the issue and linking the issue with the welfare activities and those connected to the farmers was incorrect and unfortunate.
——Agencies