Delhi: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday slammed Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and said that 75 per cent of the funds in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) are provided by the central government while the state share in SDRF is only 25 per cent, adding it is extremely unfortunate that farmers of Telangana have suffered losses due to the recent untimely rains across the state.
The Union minister said, “It is an undeniable fact that 75 per cent of the funds in SDRF are provided by the central government. The state share in SDRF is only 25 per cent. From 2014-15 to date, the Central Government has released Rs 2,196.60 crore to Telangana State SDRF.
In addition, RS 873.27 crore has been released under NDRF. Together with SDRF and NDRF, a total of Rs 3,069.87 crore has been provided by the central government to Telangana state. In 2022-2023, The Central Government has contributed the first instalment of Rs 188.80 crore and another Rs 188.80 crore will be transferred to the State SDRF for the financial year 2022-23.”
Stating that it is the responsibility of the government to support the farmers who have suffered losses, he said, “It is extremely unfortunate that the farmers of Telangana have suffered losses due to the recent untimely rains across the state of Telangana.”
Alleging that the KCR government of not helping the farmers, he said, “Keeping this in mind, the Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ scheme. The Telangana government, which initially joined the scheme, later withdrew from the scheme without giving any reasons.”
“This has now led to a situation where farmers of Telangana can no longer get compensation for crop losses due to unseasonal rains, natural disasters and other unforeseen calamities.
Unfortunately, the state government does not have any clarity or specific plan in terms of providing compensation to farmers who have suffered losses due to various reasons. Without any such plan it withdrew from the ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ purely on political grounds,” Reddy added.
“Since then till today the farmers of Telangana who have lost their crops in the state are facing difficulties without getting proper compensation. At the same time, during the implementation of ‘Fasal Bima Yojana’ many farmers were benefited by it.
In the states where this scheme is being implemented, lakhs of farmers who have lost crops are getting compensation,” he further remarked.
Targeting Telangana Chief Minister KCR, he said, “It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister of the state, who recently visited the areas where crops were damaged due to untimely rains in the state, blamed the central government regarding compensation to the farmers.
While blaming the Government of India on one hand, the State Government has issued a memo to provide compensation to the farmers from the State Disaster Response Fund.”
“As on April 1, 2022, the State SDRF account had funds of Rs 608.06 crore as balance available in its account. Along with the first instalment of Rs 188.80 crore Central share of SDRF for the year 2022-23 released, on July 22, 2022, and the corresponding state share, the SDRF has a corpus of approximately Rs 860 crore.
This means that currently there are enough funds in the state SDRF to provide the necessary assistance to the farmers who have lost their crops. If the state government really loves the farmers, then I demand compensation from the treasury of the state government along with the compensation given by SDRF,” he added.
Alleging that the Chief Minister is trying to get publicity, he said, “Although the central government is providing assistance to the victims of the natural calamities in the state of Telangana, the Chief Minister is blaming the central government. It is clear that instead of understanding the plight of the farmers who have lost their crops and helping them, the CM is focused on blaming the Centre and gaining publicity.”
Stating that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in the state was misleading the people, the Union Minister said, “It is foolish of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders to hide the truth and mislead the people in the current time when technology has developed so much. However, I suggest that the KCR government should refrain from spreading lies and tell the truth in front of the people.”
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao last Thursday visited rain-affected areas in a few districts of the state and assured the farmers of financial assistance for cross losses.
He announced a compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre for farmers who lost their crops due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms, informed the government.
CM KCR while addressing the Ramapuram village of Khammam district, said, “Due to the rains, there was a loss of 2,28,250 acres of crops throughout the state. Out of this, maize crops suffered the maximum damage of 1,29,446 acres.
As per the central government norms, they won’t get much money. In the Telangana government, along with putting in big investments and completing the pending and new projects, we are implementing farmer support schemes that are not there anywhere else in the world.
With it, the farmers are also getting stable and coming out of their debts. Despite that, they are some fools who say that we won’t get anything from agriculture. Today Telangana is first in per capita income in the country. We have the highest per capita income, more than Maharashtra. In the GSDP growth rate, farming plays a vital role.”
“Farmers don’t have to feel bad about it as the government is with you”, he said assuring support to the farmers.
“After BRS was formed we have been saying that India requires a total integrated agricultural policy. For funds, we have to write a report to the Centre and we don’t know when they will give it. We don’t want to depend on the Centre as it takes six months to respond,” said the BRS chief.
