HYDERABAD: The High Court of Telangana pulled up the Union Agriculture Ministry and the Telangana government for failing to take timely action in alleviating the grievances of farmers, whose crops were damaged in the September/ October floods in 2020.
A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar said that the issues of farmers were yet to be addressed by the official machinery. Expressing dissatisfaction and anger over the delay on the part of the State and Central governments in releasing the compensation/ ex gratia to the farmers, Justice Ramachandra Rao said, “The PIL was filed in November 2020.
We are now in 2021. The Union Home Ministry has not filed its counter affidavit yet, while the Union Agriculture Ministry has filed a half-baked counter. The State, meanwhile, has not taken a decision in this regard. The Union and State governments have washed their hands off the issue. This undue delay shows that neither of them are concerned about the farmers.” Asst. Solicitor General Rajeshwar Rao, representing the Union Agricultural Ministry, was directed to file its counter affidavit forthwith.