VIJAYAWADA: Assuring that the government will take care of the farmers who lost their crops in Cyclone Gulab, Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu said officials have been appointed to assess the crop damage and slammed the opposition TDP leaders for making baseless allegations against the government.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, the minister said as per preliminary estimates, almost 1.56 lakh acres of crop loss had occurred due to the cyclone, especially in both Godavari and Krishna districts. He stated that the officials have been appointed to oversee the final enumeration and the district collectors have been directed to hold Agri-Advisory Committee meetings to discuss the crop loss. As instructed by the Chief Minister, all the required measures will be taken to save the farmers from losses.
While the government is working hard in these critical situations, the TDP leaders are creating panic among farmers by taking up a malicious campaign against the government, he alleged. The minister said that no one can beat Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu in diversion politics. Naidu was trying to distort the fact that Rayalaseema districts are coming out of drought conditions.
He alleged that farmers were abandoned by the TDP rulers during their regime. “Unlike the previous government, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has always supported the farmers and introduced the market stabilisation fund, and stood by them right from seed to sale,’’ he asserted.
The TDP government had procured only 11.22 lakh MT of crops in five years by spending Rs 3,921 crore. The YSRC government has spent Rs 6,454 crore to procure 19.39 lakh MT of crops in the last two years, he said.