VIJAYAWADA: Former chief minister and YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that Cyclone Arnab had inflicted severe losses on farmers across Andhra Pradesh, while the coalition government had failed to provide timely relief and was instead focusing on publicity.
During a video conference from the YSRCP Central Office with regional coordinators and presidents of cyclone-affected districts, Jagan reviewed crop damage, relief operations and problems faced by farmers and the public. He questioned Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s reviews from RTGS, asking how crop losses could be assessed through CCTV cameras without officials visiting farmers’ fields.
Jagan said preliminary information indicated severe crop damage across nearly 12 lakh acres, particularly in Konaseema, the Godavari districts and Anakapalli. Paddy nearing harvest had been submerged, while coconut, banana and aqua sectors also suffered heavily. He said power outages had stopped aerators in aqua ponds, causing further losses. Paddy farmers were losing around Rs 40,000 per acre, banana growers nearly Rs 2 lakh per acre and aqua farmers up to Rs 45 lakh per acre, but the government was trying to understate the damage.
He said the government was changing its crop-loss figures repeatedly, while relief, power restoration and field-level assessment remained incomplete. He pointed out that nearly Rs 600 crore in input subsidy from Cyclone Montha was still pending. Free crop insurance, zero-interest crop loans, RBKs and .Jagan said the coalition had promised Rs 60,000 under Annadata Sukhibhava over three years but paid only Rs 19,000, leaving Rs 41,000 pending.
He criticised the government over rising rice prices and claimed a syndicate was controlling exports and procurement while farmers in the Krishna and Godavari deltas were losing their crops.
YS Jagan directed YSRCP leaders to visit villages, stand with cyclone victims, help farmers secure procurement of wet and discoloured paddy and ensure that affected families received support.
