Kakinada, November 07: “I am with you. You need not worry about your future or about this useless government,” Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu assured the distressed farmers in Gorrepudi, Patarlagadda and Cheduvada villages in East Godavari district today.
Naidu criss-crossed the rain-hit areas in the district and consoled the farmers in distress. He interacted with them while visiting the submerged paddy fields in the villages.
Farmers complained to Naidu that the government was not taking up steps to supply seeds, fertilisers and drinking water to them. They told him that due to lack of proper drainage and canal system water stagnated in the fields. Earlier, speaking to reporters Naidu alleged that the state government had failed to provide succour to rain victims. It is not even implementing the guidelines issued by the Centre in helping the victims, he alleged.
As per the guidelines the government had to pay an amount of `30,000 to fully damaged houses, `15,000 to partially damaged houses, 5 kg of rice per day for 10 days along with generating work to the victims for three months, the TD leader said.
“There is no point in conducting aerial surveys. No minister visited the rain-hit areas and paddy fields are still under sheets of water,’’ Naidu said.
The government did not have any concrete plan to help the people at the time of natural calamities, he remarked. The farming community, handloom workers and fishermen were the worst-affected, he lamented.
The state government asked the Centre for a financial assistance of `54,550 crore since five years but the the Centre sanctioned only `1,984 crore, i.e. 3.5 per cent of what the actual loss, the TDP chief pointed out. “What are the Congress MPs doing in Delhi?, Naidu questioned. TDP leaders Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Nimmakayala Chinna Rajappa, Gorantla Butchaiah Choudary, Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao, Ganni Krishna, Boddu Bhaskara Ramarao, Dusarlapudi Ramana Raju and others accompanied Naidu. The TDP president reached Rajahmundry airport at 9 a.m. by a special flight and immediately left for Kakinada by a chopper.
–Agencies