Opposition corners TRS on farm suicides

The Opposition on Wednesday cornered the TRS government in the Legislative Assembly, accusing it of neglecting the farm sector in the state during its 30month rule.

Opposition leaders alleged that farmers were in distress due to which the state has achieved the dubious distinction of witnessing the second most farmer suicides in the country as per National Bureau of Crime Records. They lashed out at the government for failing to implement crop loan waiver scheme completely.

Congress MLA N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government failed to keep its word on a one-time settlement of crop loan waiver scheme even after Centre increasing FRBM limit to 3.50 per cent to borrow more loans.

TS TD MLA A. Revanth Reddy said the crop sown area in TS came down by over 7 lakh hectares during TRS rule, exposing how farmers are moving away from agriculture sector.

BJP MLA G. Kishan Reddy said that the government has failed to disburse input subsidy to farmers so far even after the Centre released it last year.

All the parties demanded a one-time settlement of the crop loan waiver scheme.

However, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ruled out one-time settlement citing financial constraints.

“We said we will pay in four instalments and have already paid three. The last one would be paid next year. Impact of demonetisation will be known in January and we fear TS revenues will come down. Under these conditions, it isn’t possible to pay `4,250 crore (last instalment) in one go,” Mr Rao said.