Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) [India], August 28 (ANI): YSR Congress Party leaders Ananta Venkatarami Reddy and former Minister Sake Sailajanath on Friday said the coalition government had completely failed to respond to the severe drought gripping Rayalaseema, leaving farmers without irrigation water, drinking water or fodder support.
Addressing the media persons at the YSRCP district office in Anantapur, they said kharif cultivation in the region had been restricted to just 39-40%, groundwater levels had fallen by 12-20 metres, and milk production had declined by nearly 75% due to shortage of green fodder.
Reddy said the government had no contingency plan despite warnings over El Nino and rainfall deficit. He said Telangana had released nearly 53 TMC from Srisailam for power generation while Andhra Pradesh remained silent, even as Rayalaseema faced a growing water crisis.
He recalled that the YSRCP government paid around Rs. 8,600 crore towards crop insurance premiums and Rs. 11,000 crore as input subsidy, whereas farmers were now being forced to pay insurance premiums themselves even for crops drying up in drought conditions.
Sailajanath said electricity could be purchased, but lost water could not be recovered. With Srisailam storage declining to around 160 TMC, continued releases for power generation would leave Rayalaseema projects and Handri-Neeva without water, he warned.
He demanded immediate diversion of water from Srisailam to Telugu Ganga, Handri-Neeva, drinking-water systems and other Rayalaseema projects, including at least 30-40 TMC through Pothireddypadu.
The leaders demanded that the government restrain wasteful water releases for power generation, provide compensation to affected farmers and urgently address fodder and drinking-water shortages. They assured farmers that YSRCP would stand with them and warned that if the government failed to act, the party was prepared to intensify its agitation, including a protest at the Srisailam project.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday tore into the coalition government over its inefficiency in chalking out a contingency plan to mitigate the drought conditions prevailing in the state, its attempt to play the old game on BC quota in local body elections, and termed police personnel peddling ganja a most heinous crime.
Speaking to the media persons here, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that while there has been an average rainfall deficit of 51 per cent in the past two months and farmers are worried about the kharif crop, Chandrababu Naidu has remained silent and no assurance has come from the government on any alternative measures, which shows its lack of concern for agriculture.
"It was Chandrababu who encouraged litigation when the YSRCP government wanted to go ahead with reservation for BCs, and now he is playing the same game with polls nearing. But we were ahead of time and gave more than the quota to BCs," he said in its party release. (ANI)
Rayalaseema in drought; Andhra Pradesh govt in deep slumber: YSRCP
