Tirupati, December 26: The Central government would announce a consolidated package to the farmers in the state in another two days following a request from the state government for more aid, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has said.
Speaking to mediapersons at the helipad here today before leaving for his native place, the chief minister admitted that the state government’s package to the distressed farmers was not sufficient. He said in order to help the farmers even more, the state government had sought financial aid from the Centre.
If necessary, he said, he would lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to impress upon him about the sufferings of the farmers who incurred huge losses due to heavy rains this year.
Kiran Kumar Reddy reiterated that both the state government and the Congress party were for the people. He clarified the state government would not withdraw any of the welfare schemes, though the government was incurring an expenditure of Rs 2,800 crore for subsidy rice (Rs 2 kg rice scheme), Rs 3,000 crore for students scholarships and about Rs 6,000 crore for other schemes like Pavala Vaddi, Abhaya Hastam and Argoyasri.
On the request of the state government, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has responded positively to purchase the discoloured paddy from the farmers through the FCI and had allocated Rs 400 crore for the purpose, the chief minister said. Cotton Corporation of India would purchase cotton from farmers and tobacco officials were also engaged in purchasing tobacco from the farmers, he added.
He told the farmers to have faith in the government as it was taking all measures for giving remunerative price and adequate compensation for the crop loss.
Answering a query, he said Andhra Pradesh was the only state to waive interest on loans taken by the farmers amounting to Rs 350 crore.
On Telangana issue, he said nothing would happen after Srikrishna Committee submits its report and dismissed the assumptions as mere rumours. He said he had confidence in media houses that they would exercise restraint from going overboard while reporting on Telanagana and other issues and the coverage would be in a balanced manner.
On the recent developments in the Congress party, Kiran Kumar Reddy said the Congress had withstood several such incidents earlier also and would continue to remain so.
–Agencies