Farm panels to have a big say

Hectic lobbying has begun for a seat on the committees to be constituted by the to organise farmers to make agriculture financially viable.

These committees will call the shots in the ensuing land survey, to be taken up across the state from September 15. They will also play a crucial role in purification of land data during the survey and maintenance of records later.

The government has promised to provide a seed fund of `500 crore to federations from next year to ensure remunerative prices for farmers, pitching the stakes high.

The government has empowered ministers and MLAs to nominate farmers to the committees till September 9.

The objective is to select farmers who reside in villages and have agriculture as a profession, but ‘political farmers’ owing allegiance to the TRS who have leased their land to tenant farmers and stay in cities are vying for seats on these panels.

The land mafia and benamis are also trying to push their candidates into the federations with a view to protecting their interests during cleansing of revenue records.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had directed ministers and MLAs not to come to Hyderabad till the land survey is completed. With this, they are camping in villages.

Farmers associations said the appointments would serve no purpose because selfish interests would be paramount for politicians. They said farmers supporting the TRS were being considered for these panels, and those known to support Opposition parties were being turned away.

“With the elections nearing, ministers and local MLAs are weighing how best to milk the scheme for political benefits. The state has nearly 60 lakh farmers The federations are being viewed as vote bank rather than as an effort to organise farmers to make agriculture viable,” said Mr T. Sagar, secretary, Telangana Rythu Sangham.