The Hindu Business Line : AP in the midst of agrarian crisis: CM

THE Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, told the Assembly that the State was in the midst of an agrarian crisis and urged the members of the House to rise above the level of party line to mitigate the plight of the people.

Replying to a debate on the prevailing drought conditions in the State, Dr Reddy said, "We have to harness the Godavari river waters to the maximum extent possible to overcome the hardships caused by frequent droughts. Godavari waters remained untapped to a large extent till now and nearly 3,000 tmc water was flowing into the sea every year. Even this year, 197 tmc of water from the river had flown into the sea in the past two months."

Stating that his Government had identified eight irrigation projects to be completed in the State in two years and additional 18 irrigation projects to be completed in five years at Rs 26,000 crore, he said that his endeavour was to transform the State into "Harithandhra Pradesh".

He said that the long-term strategies of the State Government to mitigate the plight of farmers included completion of pending irrigation projects, construction of four major irrigation projects across river Godavari at Yellampalli, Itchampalli, Dummugudem and Polavaram at Rs 20,000 crore, provision of free power to agricultural consumers, encouragement of bio-diesel plantations and undertaking cloud seeding activities on a continuous basis.

Earlier, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said that in view of the prevailing drought conditions in the State, his Ministry was ready with a contingency plan to be implemented if the prolonged dry spell continued.

The Agricultural Department had procured 15.65 lakh tonne seed of various crops for distribution to farmers at subsidised rates. Of this, nine-lakh tonnes of seed, including 4.8 lakh tonnes of groundnut and 56,000 tonnes of soyabean seed, had already been distributed.

The Minister for Revenue, Mr D. Prasada Rao, said that there was huge rainfall deficit during the current south-west monsoon season in the Telangana and Rayalaseema regions.

He, however, said, "We have to wait up to September, the end of the monsoon season, to estimate how many mandals in the State were affected by drought."

A quantum of 1.85 lakh tonnes of rice was released under the food-for-work programme.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, wanted to know the exact amount earmarked by the Government to take up drought-relief works.

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