PM offers `400cr relief package to AP farmers
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a relief package of `400 crores to the rain-hit farmers of Andhra Pradesh from the National Calamity Fund as an adhoc advance after 28 Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh called on him and requested him for a package on Tuesday. The Prime Minister has also promised more support once he receives the report of the survey teams of both the Centre and the state.
The pressure on the Centre has been incrementally increasing with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu refusing to call off his hungerstrike and former MP Jagan Mohan Reddy too beginning his two-day hungerstrike in Vijayawada demanding enhanced compensation for the rain-battered farmers of the state. Left leaders A.B. Bardhan and Parkash Karat too have written to the Prime Minister demanding that the rains in Andhra be declared a national calamity.
With the farmers’ plight being the focus of the entire political spectrum in Andhra Pradesh, its echo was felt in the capital on Tuesday with 28 Congress MPs, led by Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, calling on the Prime Minister to request him for a relief-package.
According to Mr Reddy, the PM had agreed to all the demands placed by the delegation. “The Prime Minister has announced `400 crores as relief package from the national calamity fund for the farmers of Andhra. After that, the report of the survey teams of both the Central and state agencies would be considered and further relief packages would be announced,” said the urban development minister.
With the Prime Minister accepting the demand that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should purchase all the produce of the farmers irrespective of their quality, Mr Reddy said, “The Prime Minister has said that the required instructions will be given to the FCI to open centres to procure paddy and other crops. The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) also will start purchasing cotton even if the moisture content is beyond the required norm.” The MPs requested Dr Singh to increase the export duty on palmolein oil which too was accepted.
On the issue of special package to the farmers of Telangana region, Mr Reddy said, “The Prime Minister has agreed to a special package to the Telangana farmers who have incurred huge losses on their groundnut cultivation.”
Post new comment