200 farmer suicides in a 100-day period in Telangana

Hyderabad, (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao claimed on Sunday that 200 farmers died by suicide in Telangana in 100 days of Congress rule.

The former Chief Minister said he had never imagined that Telangana would again witness farmer suicides and alleged that the inefficiency of the Congress government to use the system built by the previous government led to a situation where crops are drying up across the state due to a lack of water.

Addressing a press conference at Suryapet after inspecting withering crops at some places in Jangaon and Suryapet districts, he asked people to ponder why Telangana which had become the number one state in the country in foodgrains production slipped into this miserable situation in such a short period.

KCR, as Rao is popularly called, wondered why Telangana was witnessing a drinking water shortage when the previous government implemented a scheme like Mission Bhagiratha, which was praised by the United Nations and replicated by 15-16 states in the country.

He asked why the new government failed to supply drinking water to every household like the previous BRS government.

He claimed that there was a disruption of electricity supply in the state though his government had spent Rs 35,000 crore to improve the electricity system to ensure 24-hour quality power to all sectors for eight years.

KCR said farmers told him that if they were told that they would not be supplied water, they would not have gone for cultivation. He stated that with the stabilisation of agriculture as the focal point, his government had brought a transformation by supplying water to farmers, providing them investment support on time under Rythu Bandhu, 24-hour quality power, procurement of every grain grown by farmers, and Rythu Bhima.

He recalled that Telangana was not even growing 30-40 lakh tonnes at the time of formation in 2014, but as a result of the measures taken by his government, the state competed with states like Punjab by increasing the production to 3 crore tonnes.

He demanded that the Congress government do an enumeration of dried-up crops in every district and pay Rs 25,000 per acre compensation. He said as the main opposition, his BRS would fight on behalf of the farmers and force the Congress government to accept the demand.