APCC Chief urged Party leaders to help farmers

Vijayawada, June 20: The Andhra Pradesh Congress Council(APCC) president N. Raghuveera Reddy has urged party leaders to submit representations to all District Collectors seeking urgent measures to rescue the farmers in the State in the hour of crisis here on Monday.

He stated in a press release that banks were not extending loans to the farmers, and the much-hyped loan waiver was not happening. As a consequence, farmers did not have money to invest in the ensuing kharif crops.

The plight of tenant farmers was worse, he said. The farmers were deprived of minimum support price. Demonetisation had its impact on them. The families of farmers who had committed suicide were not even getting ex gratia, he charged.

The government had declared more than half of the mandals drought-hit last year but did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the farmers.

Mr. Reddy alleged that the farm credit extended by the banks last year was 30% less than the amounts committed in the State-level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting.

There was no check on sale of spurious seed and fertilizers as the Agriculture and Marketing departments were in a slumber, he said.