Hyderabad, September 13: The Mohan Kanda Committee constituted to study the recent ‘Crop Holiday’ declared by farmers in Godavari districts has indicted the State Government of being responsible for the farmer’s woes.
The committee, headed by former Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda, in its report submitted to the government on Monday pointed out ‘gross negligence’ of officials at various levels that forced the farmers to declare ‘Crop Holiday’ after they failed to get remunerative prices for their produce.
The report also highlighted that the systems followed by the government were faulty due to which the grain producers were put to untold miseries in the fields. The Kanda panel toured the affected districts for 20 days and interacted with the distressed farmers who categorically stated that they were forced to give up agriculture due to lack of proper returns.
The panel found that farmers suffered for want of seeds, fertilisers, water supply and power supply. Further, the farmers did not get proper Minimum Support Price on their produce and no godown space was available to stock their output. After going through all the ground level problems and a feedback from the farmers, which led to the said Crop Holiday, the panel prepared its report.
The Mohan Kanda Committee stated that the brokers played havoc with farmers’ lives. In the absence of suitable godown space the farmers were coerced to part with their production at a throw away price and the middle men took advantage at this juncture. The panel’s finding revealed that the middlemen made a mess of things only because of government’s negligence.
The report was submitted to the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday and it has been passed on to all departments concerned for their reactions. The report also recommended certain measures to be taken to regain the faith of farmers’ that have lost in the system.
——Agencies