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STATE

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU

KCR urges input subsidy to farmers

Central Government team visits the drought-hit areas in Telangana districts

Central team urged to

recommend providing
national project status
to one major irrigation
project in Telangana

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: The Telangana gov-

The Central Government team inspecting the Manjeera project at Sangareddy in Medak district on Tuesday. -PHOTO: MOHD ARIF

plained to the team.

There was no facility to store
river water even as over 1,600
TMC ft was flowing waste into
the sea every year. As a result,
farmers in Telangana were
forced to depend on borewells
but they could not cultivate
crops under 21 lakh borewells
this year due to depletion of
groundwater. That was the reason why the State Government
had taken up redesigning of irrigation project, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said. Further, he told the
team that the State Government
had taken up Mission Bhagiratha
drinking water project to overcome drinking water crisis even
during the drought years. He requested Mr. Singh to report the
intensity of drought conditions
in the State and recommend judicious assistance.
Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma,
Principal Secretaries S. Narsing
Rao (CMO), B.R. Meena (Revenue), Secretary C. Parthasarathi
(Agriculture), Advisor to Government A.K. Goel and others
participated.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: Telangana Telugu Desam leaders have

sought waiver of crops loans up to Rs. 1 lakh as one-time

settlement, payment of compensation of Rs.20,000 an
acre for crop damage and declaration of the entire Telangana State drought-hit.
In a representation to the Central team which came
to assess the drought situation in the State, Telangana
TDP president L. Ramana and other leaders, have
charged the Telangana Government with neglecting
the distress and agony of farmers. It said that out of 443
mandal, though the district collectors have recognised
309 mandals drought-hit, the government declared only 231 mandals. None of the mandals in Adilabad and
Khammam made it to the list. It said that more than
2052 farmers have committed suicide in the State till
Tuesday, which reflects the crisis in Telangana.

Congress seeks more

compensation
HYDERABAD: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee has
urged the Central Drought Evaluation Team to enhance
the compensation for farmers in drought affected
districts.
In a memorandum to the team here on Tuesday,
TPCC Kisan Kheth cell chairman M. Kodanda Reddy
said the State Government had delayed in assessing and
quantifying the damage to agriculture and rural economy due to drought. The Congress delegation said Government had not done a complete assessment of the
drought situation in many areas of the State. A report
sent to Centre was hurriedly done after pressure from
various quarters, without inputs from affected people.

Alarming in Medak
R AVADHANI
SANGAREDDY: We have visited several places in the district to examine the
drought conditions. The situation is alarming. Crop loss is heavy and cattle
distress is also observed. People complained about drinking water problem
in every village, was the comment made by the Central team leader
Maharaj Kumar.
Addressing a meeting at
Collectorate on Tuesday evening after
visiting Sardarnagar Tanda, Rajaram
tanda, Morgi in Kangti mandal and
Chief Secretary
Chowkanpally and Gurdur Manoor
sought Rs. 2,431
mandal in the district along with other
crore relief but it is team members Om Kishore and Om
Sharma-, Senior IAS officer and
very little compared Datta
Sports Authority of Telangana MD A.
to crop loss.
Dinakarbabu, Collector D. Ronald Rose,
Mr Maharaj Kumar said that the Chief
Maharaj Kumar
Secretary sought Rs. 2,431 crore as
drought relief and it was very little
comparing with crop loss incurred by farmers. While Medak district
administration proposed a drought relief of Rs. 1,600 crore, Nizamabad
district, which we visited yesterday, sought about Rs. 1,400 crore. We will
make our recommendations based on our visit, Mr. Maharaj Kumar said.
During the visit, villagers and farmers explained to the team members
about the drought and its adverse impact on them. One bore-well at
Rajaram Tanda yielded only six pots of water when officials switched it on
to understand the ground water level. Farmers had shown the dried crop.

Withered crops greet Central

team in Karimnagar

Farmers showing the withered crops to the central team which visited various parts of
Karimnagar district on Tuesday. -PHOTO: BY ARRANGEMENT.
K.M. DAYASHANKAR
KARIMNAGAR: The Central team,
which had visited the Karimnagar district were greeted
with withered crops, dried up
fields and wells and also
parched tanks in various parts
of the district on Tuesday.
The team headed by Brijesh
Srivatsava, Srinivas and Venkateshwarlu toured several

villages in Bheemadevarapalli, Hunabad, Chigurmamidi,

Bejjanki and Sircilla mandals
along with Collector Neetu
Prasad and other officials.
During their visits, the
farmers poured out their
woes of continuous drought
since two years. They explained to the members about
the losses incurred due to
withering of crops following

the drought. Villagers also explained about the drinking water woes for them as well as cattle and non-availability of
fodder. Mr. Srivatsava said that
the drought was alarming in the
district and said that the team
would ensure that more funds
were released to the district.
He also said that they would
make suggestion for including
more mandals

We are a team and will win GHMC polls

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CM
YK

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

ing the State with Central

leaders, besides inviting them
to the event. Mr. Rao will attend Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitleys daughters marriage on Wednesday and Nationalist Congress Party chief
Sharad Pawars 75th birthday
celebrations on Thursday.
Meanwhile, he is also likely to
visit Vijayawada on December 12 to attend the southern
States Chief Ministers meeting. It is being expected that
he would invite AP Chief
Minister N. Chandrababu
Naidu for the yagam.

Credit guarantee scheme

for MSMEs shortly

Waive crop loans: TTDP

HYDERABAD: The Telangana

Congress leaders on Tuesday
made a concerted effort to
send across a strong message
that as a united team, they
would work hard to win the
forthcoming
GHMC
elections.
We are a team and now all
suspicions,
apprehensions
and speculations be put to
rest. We are going to contest
the next GHMC elections and
emerge victorious, said the
Congress leaders claimed at a
press conference here.
The meeting saw Greater
Hyderabad Congress Committee president Danam Nagender, who was widely believed to leave the party
chairing the meeting which
was attended by Leader of
Opposition in Council Mo-

KCR leaves for Delhi

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao left for
New Delhi on Tuesday night
on a two-day visit to the national capital. He is expected
to meet President Pranab
Mukherjee, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and several
Union Ministers to invite
them to the Ayutha Chandi
Yagam being planned by him
at Erravelli in Medak district
from December 23 to 27.
Sources stated that he will
also take up issues concern-

B. CHANDRASHEKHAR

hief Minister K. Chandrasekhar

Rao has requested the Central
Government team that visited
the drought-hit areas in Telangana on Monday and Tuesday to
recommend input subsidy to all
farmers in the 231 affected mandals and increase employment
days under MGNREGS to 200 by
linking it to agriculture.
Speaking to the team led by
Joint Secretary in the Union
Agriculture Ministry Utpal Kumar Singh after conclusion of
their field visit, the Chief Minister said such measures were necessary to help people overcome
the drought conditions in Telangana. He stated that input subsidy, funds for drinking water supply and fodder were required
immediately
to
help the farming
community.
Besides,
conTAKING
struction of irrigaSTOCK OF tion projects, improving
DROUGHT
groundwater table
and
improving
green cover (forest) were also necessary as long-term measures to
tackle the drought conditions.
Giving their view of the situation, the team members told the
Chief Minister that there was no
water in water bodies, scarcity of
drinking water and farmers were
also not able to cultivate crops
under borewells due to depletion
of groundwater table.
The Chief Minister asked the
Central team also recommend
providing national project status
to one major irrigation project in
Telangana stating that the State
was not in a position to face the
drought conditions due to its discrimination during the combined Andhra Pradesh rule. Projects were not constructed in
Telangana and the once taken up
remain incomplete till date. Sriramsagar project taken up in 1964
remaining incomplete so far was
one of the glaring examples of
discrimination suffered, he ex-

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015

TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy chairing a meeting of committee for GHMC polls. Rivals
Danam Nagender and Marri Shashidhar Reddy also share the dais. -PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

hammed Ali Shabbir, TPCC

Working President Mallu
Bhatti Vikramarka, Rajya Sabha MP V. Hanumantha Rao,
ex-MLA Marri Sashidhar
Reddy, Ranga Reddy DCC

president Kyama Mallesh and

former Minister P. Sabitha Indira Reddy among others.
During the meeting, several
aspects related to GHMC
elections were discussed. The

Congress leaders expressed

concern over deletion of over
six lakh voters, improper enumeration of BC voters and
discrepancies in delimitation
of municipal wards. It has

been decided to pursue the legal cases which are going on

different courts on these issues. TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged
that the TRS Government
was trying to influence the
election process by creating
problems which were never
heard of. He directed all party
men to enter into campaign
mode immediately. It was decided to constitute divisionlevel and booth-level committees and launch simultaneous
campaign across 150 divisions. Danam Nagender said
that the campaign would be
launched on Wednesday itself which happens to be the
birthday of AICC President
Sonia Gandhi. A rally will be
taken out from Nehru statue
at Abids to Gandhi Statue in
Secunderabad to collect relief
for the victims of Nellore and
Chennai.

Farmers
pour out
their woes
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
WARANGAL: Scores of farmers related their woes before the ninemember Central team that has
come to assess the drought situation in the district here on
Tuesday.
Particularly the cotton farmers urged the officers to ensure
payment of Rs. 15,000 compensation for acre of crop loss. Untimely rains and bad weather
conditions affected the sowing
and harvesting of crop and the
yields were very low. The
meagre minimum support price
offered by the government and
the low price offered by the traders compounded the problems,
the farmers complained. Of the
nine-member Central team
headed by Utpal Kumar Singh,
three members S Srinivas, Brajesh Srivatsava and M Singh visited Cherial and Bachhannapet
mandals in the district along
with senior official from the
State G Kishan who acted as the
liaison officer for the team .

Pathetic
Later in the day, the members interacted with the representatives of different political parties
and received memoranda from
them at the district Collectorate.
Mr Srivatsava describing the
condition of farmers as pathetic
said they were demanding for
Rs. 15,000 compensation per
acre. We will come up with a
comprehensive report on the
findings and submit the report to Central government for
necessary action, he said. TDP
MLA Errabelli Dayakar Rao and
party leader Revuri Prakash
Reddy, Congress leaders T Veeranna and B Navneen Naik appealed to the members to declare the district drought hit.
The State government had declared Cheriyal, Maddur, Narmetta, Bachhannapet, Jangaon,
Lingala Ghanpur, Raghunathpalli, Station
Ghanpur, Dharmasagar, Zafarghad and Narsimhulupet as
drought hit mandals in the
district.
District collector V Karuna,
Joint Collector Prashanth J Patil,
joint director agriculture Gangaram and others were present.

ernment is formulating a
credit guarantee scheme for
the Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME) sector
as well as a policy to promote
exports.
Announcing this here on
Tuesday, Secretary to the Industries and Commerce Department Arvind Kumar said
the scheme for the micro,
small and medium enterprises is to be launched in collaboration with the Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI).
The senior official, who
was addressing a seminar on
Insurance awareness consultation campaign organised by
the ECGC Ltd, said the

scheme is part of the sectorspecific interventions aimed

at encouraging investment,
creating jobs and generating
income in the State. It would
encourage bankers to extend
credit to the sector.
The exports promotion
policy of the State, to be unveiled soon, would look into
all the issues concerning exports, he added.
An official release said
ECGC (formerly known as
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd), as part
of the event, organised a customer consultation campaign. Insurance Regulatory
Development Authority of India chairman T.S. Vijayan and
ECGC
chairman-cum-managing director Geetha Muralidhar participated.

Bhongir Municipal
Chairperson joins TRS
STAFF REPORTER

Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

The development would cerNALGONDA: Days ahead of local tainly come as a relief to TRS
body MLC constituency elec- since the Congress was offertion, Municipal Chairperson, ing strong fight in Nalgonda
Bhongir along with 12 coun- MLC election. Ms.Lavnya
cillors joined the Telangana said that they have joined
Rashtra Samiti (TRS) here on then TRS since they were inTuesday in the presence of spired by the work of Chief
Energy Minister, G. Jagadish- Minister K,Chandrasekhar
Rao. Meanwhile, Congress
war Reddy.
Chairperson, Survi Lava- candidate, Komatireddy Rajanya won on Bharatiya Janta gopal Reddy has filed his
Party (BJP) ticket while the nomination papers in Nalgoncouncillors belong to BJP and da today.

Konda Murali
figures in TRS list
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on
Tuesday announced the remaining five names for elections to 12 Local Authorities
seats in the Legislative Council including that of Konda
Murali, husband of party legislator Konda Surekha, from
Warangal district.
Party leaders K. Keshava
Rao, D. Srinivas and Minister
Jupally Krishna Rao announced the names in the party office. The remaining four
candidates are Sunkireddy Jagadish Reddy and Kasireddy
Narayan Reddy from Mahabubnagar and Patnam Narender Reddy and Shambipur Raju from Ranga Reddy. Mr.
Narender Reddy is the younger brother of Minister P. Mahender Reddy. The other seven TRS candidates already
announced by the ruling party
include R. Bhoopathi Reddy
from Nizamabad, T. Chinnapa
Reddy from Nalgonda, Balasani
Laxminarayana
from
Khammam, V. Bhoopal Reddy
from Medak, Puranam Satish
from Adilabad and N. Laxman

Rao and T. Bhanuprasad Rao

from Karimnagar.
Mr. Bhoopal Reddy and Mr.
Bhanuprasad Rao were elected from Congress in the previous term while Mr. Laxminarayana and Mr. Narender
Reddy were chosen on TDP
tickets. Mr. Murali and Mr.
Jagdish Reddy were also
MLCs in the past from the
Congress party.
Speaking after announcing
the names, the TRS leaders
exuded confidence that they
would win all the 12 seats. Mr.
Keshava Rao said the party
leadership had finalised the
candidates only after assessing their prospects. Stating
that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos administration was widely accepted by
people Mr. Srinivas said the
result of the recent by-election to Warangal Lok Sabha
seat was an indication.
Minister Mr. Krishna Rao
said nobody could stop the
TRS from winning all the 12
seats of the Council and
hoped that the result of Council elections would be like that
of Warangal by-election.

Congress reluctant to enter poll

fray in three districts
RAVI REDDY
HYDERABAD: Fearing reversal in
the Legislative Council election from Local Authorities
Constituencies,
Congress
leaders from Warangal, Medak and Karimnagar are reluctant to enter the fray.
As a result, the Congress
party is planning to field candidates in eight places and
backing CPI in Khammam district and leaving three other
seats.
Party has so far finalised
five candidates Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Nalgonda), former Minister Dr. A.
Chandrasekhar (Ranga Reddy), former ZP chiefs K.Damodar Reddy (Mahabubnagar) and Venkatramana Reddy
(Nizamabad) and former

MLA A. Maheswara Reddy

(Adilabad). Although there
are two seats in Karimnagar,
Ranga Reddy and Mahabubnagar, the party is settling for
only one seat each because of
limited number of votes.
Congress leaders from Medak, Warangal and Karimnagar district are not keen on
contesting the elections because of the ground situation.
The party has fewer number
of elected representatives.
Many senior leaders are rejecting the offer on the ground
that they are not willing to
spend huge sum for an election, where their chances of
victory are bleak, a senior Telangana Pradesh Congress
Committee functionary remarked on Tuesday.
Party leaders maintained

that only in Nalgonda district,

the Congress candidate Rajagopal Reddy has chances of
winning the polls. In other
districts, it will be a tough
task.
If we are able to have understanding with other opposition parties there is remote
chance of upsetting the fortunes of the ruling TRS candidates, yet another Congress
leader said.
If Congress leaders are to be
believed, Congress could have
an unofficial understanding
with the TDP in Ranga Reddy
and Mahabubnagar districts.
Not sure of putting up a
good show, the Congress leadership has authorities the district units to take a call on understanding at local level to
improve its prospects.
HY-HY