HYDERABAD: The death of Ch Yellaiah, an aged farmer in Dubbak of Siddipet district on Thursday while waiting for his turn to purchase urea has exacerbated the already volatile situation in the state in the wake of the acute shortage in supply of the crop-nutrient.The political parties were quick in rushing in to rip the government apart even as farmers began slamming the state government of rank irresponsibility in distributing the chemical in sufficient quantity and in time, which they said had claimed Yellaiah’s life.
When Yellaiah, 69, collapsed while standing in the queue in Siddipet, the district represented by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao himself, the situation in the town became surcharged. As soon as he collapsed, complaining chest pain, he was rushed to a hospital, but died on the way.
Yellaiah, who was raising cotton and maize on about four acres, wanted urea very badly and had been visiting the agriculture cooperative credit society in Dubbak for the last three days.
He and his wife arrived at the society office on Thursday also, since the authorities were selling the two bags of urea per head. They arrived around 7 am and began waiting for their turn. About an hour-and-a-half later, he suffered chest pain and collapsed.
Yellaiah, who was from Acchumayapalli in Dubbak Mandal, raised a `3 lakh loan, and using the money, tried to sink a borewell but could not succeed. “Our uncle’s family is very poor. The government should help them,” Yellaiah’s brother’s son said.
His death sent shock waves across the state, where farmers are already up in arms against the government for not easing the problem. In several towns, they were seen raising slogans against the government. For instance, in Mopal of Nizamabad district, the farmers held up traffic and called the state government to account.
Uttam slams Niranjan for ‘movie ticket’ quip
Meanwhile, Telangana Pradesh Congress Comittee president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy described as inhuman the response of Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy to Yellaiah’s death. “How could Niranjan Reddy liken Yellaiah’s death to that of a person standing in line for a movie ticket? Very insensitive,” he said. The minister, speaking to the media in Hyderabad, asked the Opposition parties not to exploit Yellaiah’s death for political benefit.
“I am pained by his death. But it has nothing to do with urea. Yellaiah was a heart patient. In fact, he had chest pain in the morning and at one time, had thought of going to a hospital but decided against it as urea was important to him,” Niranjan Reddy said and felt that it was unfair for the Opposition to blame the government. If a person in a queue for a movie ticket dies, do you blame the management of the theatre?” he asked.
Niranjan Reddy said all efforts are being made to get fertilisers to the farmers on a war footing. “As against a requirement of 60,000 tonnes, we have received 48,000 tonnes of urea. The Central government is cooperating with us,” he said. Interestingly, there was no scarcity of urea in Dubbak, where Yellaiah died. As Yellaiah was being shifted to hospital, on another side of the society office, a truck was unloading urea,” Niranjan Reddy said.
Footwear trail
Unable to stand for hours at a stretch, farmers of Sarangapur and Allipur in Jagtiyal district left their footwear to represent them in the queue at their society office
“We have been here for six hours. No one has bothered to sell us urea. If one is very fortunate, one would get about two bags,” a farmer in Sarangapur said
Sensing an opportunity to earn brownie points, political parties slammed the state govt
While the Congress blamed the state and Centre, the BJP squarely blamed the TRS