Hyderabad: Congress senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdhary on Monday demanded that the Telangana Government take stern action against those involved in the manufacturing and sale of spurious seeds.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Renuka Chowdhary said thousands of chilli farmers in Khammam have suffered huge losses due to spurious seeds. Shockingly, she said that the seed packets carried the monogram of Telangana Government.
Accusing that the TRS Government has totally failed to check sale of spurious seeds, she asked how could official agencies approve fake seeds and now who should be held responsible for the losses – State Government or firms?
Alleging that the TRS Government has completely neglected the agriculture sector, Renuka Chowdhary alleged that nearly 22,000 farmers in Khammam alone did not gain from the crop loan waiver scheme. She also slammed the State Government’s decision to send 1,000 officials to Israel for training in modern agriculture.
Describing the move as waste of public money, she asked what those officials could learn in Israel in a week-long programme. She said that the money Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao had spent on construction of Pragati Bhavan on 11-acres of land and the amount being spent on officials’ foreign trip should have been utilised for the welfare of farmers.
Renuka Chowdhary also alleged that banks were forcibly recovering the farm loans by directly deducting amounts from the accounts of farmers’ relatives. She said it was illegal to recover money from the relatives’ accounts which included several DWCRA accounts.
TPCC Kisan Cell chairman M. Kodanda Reddy said that the TRS Government did not implement the crop loan waiver scheme properly.
As against the State Government’s claims of clearing all dues, presently farmers owe about Rs. 7,721 crore to the banks. Further, the interest amount of Rs. 3,000 crore on waived off crop loans also needs to be cleared. He demanded that the government clear all the dues immediately. (INN)