Visakhapatnam, October 26 Senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya today alleged that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Andhra Pradesh government had failed to protect the interests of the farmers and public health in the state.
Addressing a press conference here today, the former Union Minister said farmers in the state were facing lot of problems due to the wrong policies being adopted by the UPA and the state government. He said standing crops in 30 lakh acres in the state was withering due to inadequate power supply to the farm sector and 480 mandals in the state were reeling under drought conditions.
Dattatreya alleged that the state government had failed to disburse the input subsidy for the farmers to the tune Rs 350 crore and supply sufficient fertiliser and seeds to the farmers. He said the state government should earmark Rs 1000 crore to help the farmers in the state and for providing fertiliser and seeds for khariff season and pay Rs 10,000 to farmers who lost their crops. Dattatreya said 15 groups of BJP leaders would tour the entire state on October 29 and 30 to ascertain the conditions of the farmers and submit a report to the state party unit.
He said a memorandum would also be submitted to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy later. Demanding that the state government strengthen the Publc Health Centres(PHC) in the state to provide medical assistance to the common people, the BJP leader alleged in the guise of the Aarogya Sri Health scheme, the state government had neglected the PHCs in the state. Stating that public health condition in the state was in an alarming situation, he said the Andhra Pradesh government had failed to control diseases like the dengue, cerebral malaria and other viral fevers in the state.
——PTI